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The High Sierra: A Love Story

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The High Sierra: A Love Story

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Overview

A “sublime” and “radically original” exploration of the Sierra Nevadas, the best mountains on Earth for hiking and camping, from New York Times bestselling novelist Kim Stanley Robinson (Bill McKibben, Gary Snyder).

Kim Stanley Robinson first ventured into the Sierra Nevada mountains during the summer of 1973. He returned from that encounter a changed man, awed by a landscape that made him feel as if he were simultaneously strolling through an art museum and scrambling on a jungle gym like an energized child. He has returned to the mountains throughout his life—more than a hundred trips—and has gathered a vast store of knowledge about them. The High Sierra is his lavish celebration of this exceptional place and an exploration of what makes this span of mountains one of the most compelling places on Earth.

Over the course of a vivid and dramatic narrative, Robinson describes the geological forces that shaped the Sierras and the history of its exploration, going back to the indigenous peoples who made it home and whose traces can still be found today. He celebrates the people whose ideas and actions protected the High Sierra for future generations. He describes uniquely beautiful hikes and the trails to be avoided. Robinson’s own life-altering events, defining relationships, and unforgettable adventures form the narrative’s spine. And he illuminates the human communion with the wild and with the sublime, including the personal growth that only seems to come from time spent outdoors.

The High Sierra is a gorgeous, absorbing immersion in a place, born out of a desire to understand and share one of the greatest rapture-inducing experiences our planet offers. Packed with maps, gear advice, more than 100 breathtaking photos, and much more, it will inspire veteran hikers, casual walkers, and travel readers to prepare for a magnificent adventure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316593014
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	05/10/2022
Pages:	560
Sales rank:	121,995
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Kim Stanley Robinson is a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed 2312, Shaman, New York 2140, and The Ministry for the Future. He traveled in Antarctica twice, courtesy of the US National Science Foundation. In 2008, he was named a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine, and he works with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute. He lives in Davis, California.

Acknowledgments xv

My Sierra Life (1): Not to Touch the Earth 3

Geology (1): Batholith and Pluton 11

My Sierra Life (2): Break On Through 19

Sierra People (1): The First People 29

My Sierra Life (3): Artists in the Back Country 44

Geology (2): Basins 58

My Sierra Life (4): How We Met 65

Sierra People (2): John Muir 69

My Sierra Life (5): The Pinball Years 82

Geology (3): Crests and Divides; Also Psychogeology (1): Outside and Inside 92

Snow Camping (1) Freezing Our Butts 96

Sierra People (3) Clarence King 105

Names (1) The Good 113

Snow Camping (2) Close to the Edge 118

Moments of Being (1) A Sierra Day: Morning in Camp 125

My Sierra Life (6) Crossing Mather Pass 130

Sierra People (4) Mary Austin 134

Psychogeology (2) Altitude and Foreshortening 139

Sierra People (5) Mapping the Territory 147

Geology (4) Fellfields 152

Sierra People (6) Common Neighbors 158

Moments of Being (2) A Sierra Day: Rambling and Scrambling 165

My Sierra Life (7) Owls in the Blue 179

Sierra People (7) The Sierra Club's Women 187

Sierra People (8) The Fresno Crowd 194

Routes (1) The Four Bad Passes 199

Moments of Being (3) A Sierra Day: Sunset and Twilight 209

My Sierra Life (8) Robbie You're Wasting Your Precious Youth 215

The Swiss Alps (1) Kistenpass 220

Snow Camping (3) The Transantarctics 241

Sierra People (9) Norman Clyde 250

Names (2) The Bad 254

Routes (2) The Six Good Passes 260

Geology (5) Canyons and Massifs 265

Moments of Being (4) A Sierra Day: Night in Camp 271

Routes (3) Some West-Side Entries 275

My Sierra Life (9) Gear Talk 281

The Swiss Alps (2) My Ascent of the Matterhorn 298

My Sierra Life (10) Return to the Sierra 316

Moments Of Being (5) Close Calls 322

Routes (4) Desolation 329

Moments Of Being (6) A Sierra Day: Under the Tarp 337

My Sierra Life (11) Heart Trouble 340

Names (3) The Ugly 348

Sierra People (10) Tree Line Artists 353

Geology (6) Roof Pendants 360

Sierra People (11) Fish and Frogs 367

My Sierra Life (12) This Is the End 372

Sierra People (12) Reclusive Neighbors 376

Sierra People (13) The Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep 379

Sierra People (14) What Didn't Get Built; and Trail Phantoms 385

Routes (5) Basins Have Characters 392

Snow Camping (4) Extreme Housekeeping 401

Sierra People (15) Gary Snyder 413

Names (4) Naming Mount Thoreau 419

Sierra People (16) Michael Blumlein 433

Moments of Being (7) Late Desolation 441

The Swiss Alps (3) Seeing Meru 448

Routes (6) The High Route 452

An Annotated Sierra Bibliography 459

Moments of Being (8) The Monsoon Gets Stronger 480

Moments of Being (9) Hetch Hetchy Restored 494

Sierra People (17) Young People in Love 498

My Sierra Life (13) Still Getting Lost 502

Names (5) Corrections and Additions 506

Sierra People (18) We Had a Good Shaman 510

Moments of Being (10): How Big the World Becomes in a Wind 513

Moments of Being (11) Have I Mentioned How Much I Like the Fall Colors Up Here? 516

My Sierra Life (14) For Wilderness 518

Moments of Being (12) The Thicket 524

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★ 03/07/2022
Novelist Robinson (the Mars trilogy) vividly conveys his passion for the Sierra mountains in this enthralling blend of memoir, history, and science. Robinson first hiked in the Sierras on LSD in 1973 as a college student, an experience that sparked decades of return visits with friends and family members. His personal stories of treks there are interspersed with chapters on “Sierra People,” including Clarence King, a 19th-century geologist, and Mary Austin, “one of the first nationally known women writers to come out of the American West.” Robinson’s discussions of what he terms psychogeology—the impact geology has on the mind— are particularly memorable, as when he shares the feeling of being in a “golden zone” while walking in one of the Sierra’s basins. Fans of Robinson’s fiction will be delighted to find insights into his craft: he outlines, for example, the terrain’s impact on his efforts to imagine the lives of humans’ Paleolithic ancestors in the novel Shaman. There’s humor on offer (Robinson suggests that a book providing routes to the Sierra Crest should just be full of blank pages: “just walk the crest—can’t get higher than that!”), and his heartfelt rendering of intense emotional interactions with the natural world pulsates with life. Fans of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods will be captivated. (May)

Publishers Weekly

04/01/2022
After a lifetime exploring the Sierras, Robinson (Ministry for the Future) shares his love of the mountains in this memoir/travel guide. Organized into eight categories ("My Sierra Life"; "Geology"; "Sierra People"; "Snow Camping"; "Names"; "Moments of Being"; "Routes"; "Swiss Alps"), Robinson's knowledge and adoration of the Sierra's reverberate. His stories highlight some misadventures, like how he and his friends dropped acid on his first backpacking trip. Once, on a winter camping trip, Robinson's camp stove blew up in front of him. Robinson writes that these adventures were atypical; most days were like "walking through a giant open-air museum," in a "gentle wilderness." VERDICT Robinson's writing is clear, fun, and filled with joy for time spent in the mountains. This lengthy memoir will appeal to fans of Robinson and the Sierras.—Margaret Atwater-Singer

Library Journal

2022-02-15
A celebration of California’s formidable mountain range.
Award-winning science-fiction writer Robinson, one of Time magazine’s “Heroes of the Environment” in 2008, writes of his love affair with the Sierras, which began in the summer of 1973. A rising senior at the University of California, San Diego, he made his first treks through the mountains in the company of friends, “long-haired stoner hippie college students” who invigorated the trip with LSD. Although his early hikes were challenging because of heavy boots, snowshoes without poles, and inadequate sleeping bags, his enthusiasm never waned. Interweaving meandering memoir, practical travel guide, geological survey, and natural history, Robinson pays homage to the range’s magnificence. Carved out by glaciers, the Sierras, he notes, are different from the Swiss Alps, where the author also has done a fair amount of climbing—even ascending the Matterhorn, tethered to a German-speaking guide. It’s a feat he never would do again: “It’s dangerous,” he writes. “You could get killed.” Backpacking in the Sierras, on the other hand, “is a safe and peaceful thing to do” even when not following marked trails. Besides describing geological formations, such as basins, which he cites as “its distinguishing feature” that make it a “golden zone” for hikers, Robinson offers a chronicle of a typical day, from “rambling and scrambling” in the morning to watching the luscious pink of alpenglow in the evening. Scrambling, he writes, is “problem-solving, keeping your balance, not falling down, and heading somewhere.” Some chapters offer capsule biographies of people who have championed the Sierras, including John Muir, Clarence King, Mary Austin, Norman Clyde, and Gary Snyder. In others, Robinson describes the fauna, such as marmots, deer, bears, and pikas. Plopped in the middle is an annotated bibliography of guides, histories, memoirs, and a sampling of Robinson’s own novels that feature the Sierras. There are also numerous photos from the author’s collection.
A colorful, digressive journey into incomparable terrain.

Kirkus Reviews

A titan of science fiction masters a new form in this winsome love letter to California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range. Constructed from an impassioned blend of memoir, history, and science writing, The High Sierra chronicles Robinson’s 100-plus trips to his beloved mountains… From descriptions of the region’s multitudinous flora and fauna to practical advice about when and where to hike, this is as comprehensive a guidebook as any, complete with all the lucid ecstasy of nature writing greats like John Muir and Annie Dillard.”—Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire

“[A] loose-limbed quality is what makes The High Sierra so appealing. But it’s also something more. Robinson clearly accepts the limits of what nature writing can do, in his hands at least. After a stunning solo hike, he tries to describe it to a friend. But he discovers that 'a day like that can’t be shared; that must not be what they are for...' Rationality is a word with a dry, ascetic feel to it. Perhaps reasonableness comes a little closer to the animating spirit of The High Sierra. That sounds strange, I know, for a book whose purpose is analyzing Robinson’s “crazy love” of the mountains. But it’s a way of getting at the wholeness of his complex approach to the natural world: inquisitive and emotional, thoughtful and immediate, long-range and short-range, drawing on all the variables in the human spirit.”—Verlyn Klinkenborg, The Atlantic

“The High Sierra is as sprawling and full of ups and downs as the Sierra Nevada itself, those majestic mountains… the memoir offers fast-paced and highly readable explorations of Sierra history, people, geography, geology and how the range’s rocks can shift your mind… the book is most powerful for demonstrating how a mountain range, and its history, can inspire visions of the future.”—Joe Mathews, San Francisco Chronicle

"In passionate paragraphs and stunning photographs, The High Sierra details the mountains [Robinson has] known for nearly 50 years, into which he’s made more than 100 trips in hopes of protecting the glorious range for future generations."—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times

“The High Sierra is as beauteous as the landscape it pays homage to. It blends memoir, travel, geography history, and photography… Even if you never plan to scale the heights of this mountain range and glamping is more your style, there are many wonders to be found on the pages of this glorious paean to the great outdoors.”—Oprah Daily

“I ached all over—metaphorically—when I finished Kim Stanley Robinson’s love letter to the Sierra Nevada… a trek unto itself, dotted with scenes so precisely described you feel you’re there… Robinson’s ambitious book blends nature writing, memoir, history and philosophy… The book gives new dimension to the term “immersive.” Not only does Robinson communicate the wonder of the High Sierra, he makes a compelling argument for preserving places like it… Travel light. Watch your step. Look at the glaciers before they’re gone.”—Carlo Wolff, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“[A] multiplicity of perspectives makes The High Sierra an engaging read even if you've never been to California.”—Christian Holub, Entertainment Weekly

“An invitation to an astonishing journey… Robinson is the reigning high priest of speculative science fiction, a master builder of alternative futures in his many novels… It’s hard to think of another writer who can touch upon climatology, geology, Gary Snyder, LSD, Aristotle, botany, zoology and Spinal Tap in a book about a mountain range… Robinson is a passionate and eloquent companion.”—Marc Weingarten, Wall Street Journal

“Equally adept at writing about the distant past, the near future, and locales as far apart as Alpha Centauri and Orange County, Robinson is one of the most environmentally astute science fiction writers of his generation… Whether writing fiction or nonfiction, he gets the details right… The High Sierra brims with useful information… Robinson is able to spot what distinguishes an item—a geological specimen, a fellow traveler on the trail, a marmot sunning itself—and convey how it fits into the grander scheme of life in the Sierra. He communicates his observations without any kind of overblown mysticism, but with a deep sense of gratitude, an appropriate sense of wonder, and a welcome sense of humor… there are some truly harrowing maneuvers. When hair-raising events occur, the author describes the action lucidly and grippingly… Anyone who opens their heart to the mountains—veteran trekker, casual explorer, or complete neophyte—will be well rewarded by this singular book."—Michael Berry, Christian Science Monitor

“Even after spending a thousand days in the high country and reading everything I can find about the Range of Light, The High Sierra surprised and delighted me… It has the heft and beauty of a coffee table book, along with the clear approachable prose, inter-personal struggles, and narrative flow that Robinson is known for… Robinson joins a choir of mystics, poets, and activists who advocate for a return to our original home in the wild.”—Leonie Sherman, Sierra Magazine

“[The High Sierra] has passion galore and glorious moments when science and poetry meet.”—Jeff Van Der Meer, Washington Post

“Award-winning science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson tackles a more earthbound subject in this personal guide to the planet’s 'best hiking mountains.' Combining backpacking advice, geological history, intimate recollections, and breathtaking photography, this eclectic compendium will appeal to a range of adventurous readers.”—Christian Science Monitor

“A book that operates on a variety of levels at once. In part, it is a memoir, tracing the author’s fascination and engagement with the Sierra, going back nearly half a century… At the same time, this is an expansive inquiry, a field guide to the region and its ecosystem.”—David L. Ulin, Alta Online

“A capacious and truly original work of nonfiction… A mashup of travelogue, geology lesson, hiking guide, history and meditation, all wrapped in a revealing and personal memoir (and illustrated with scores of gorgeous color photographs and illustrations), the book is, in essence, an exuberant celebration of finding purpose in nature… The High Sierra should not be narrowly viewed as a book only for the die-hard outdoorsperson. Robinson’s greater project, at which he succeeds splendidly, is to share the magic of his personal happy place, to promote not only its admiration but also its preservation.”—Robert Weibezahl, Bookpage

“A fascinating combination of memoir, travelogue, scientific overview, history and much more. Robinson cleverly breaks up his book into short chapters, interspersing these various strands with one another… This handsome volume is also generously illustrated, primarily with Robinson’s own color photographs.”—Norah Piehl, Bookreporter.com

“An enthralling blend of memoir, history, and science… Robinson vividly conveys his passion for the Sierra mountains… his heartfelt rendering of intense emotional interactions with the natural world pulsates with life. Fans of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods will be captivated.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“In his new memoir Robinson takes a turn for the terrestrial, covering a half-century of writing, thinking, and adventuring across our altitudinous backyard, tracing the origins of both backpacking and environmentalism.”—Hillary Louise Johnson, Sactown Magazine

“Kim Stanley Robinson shows us that the best hiking mountains on earth are the earth itself. Learning how to make anything into materials for our sleep, shelter, yoga, or crazy concentration, hunting, gathering, and laughing. Being both empty and full. Stan Robinson's radically original vision of nature itself makes the world wild.”—Gary Snyder, author of The Practice of the Wild

"The High Sierra: A Love Story is exactly that, a passionate bow to one of the great mountain ranges in the world. The power of Kim Stanley Robinson's imagination is known to us as his faithful readers. But what emerges as a surprise in this memoir of place is how he comes to know what he knows from the ground upward. With over 100 trips etched on to the soles of his feet, we witness a man in love with the world, both human and wild. We are taken into the open heart of his storytelling, that carries his awe and wonder and knife-edged perceptions into a reimagining of geologic time through the physical ground truthing of his body. I loved this book—just as I loved The Ministry for the Future. They are companion volumes as to why we should care about this beautiful, broken world we call home.”—Terry Tempest Williams, author of Erosion: Essays of Undoing

“This is a sublime book; maybe not since Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra has anyone managed to convey in words the sheer exhilaration that pours from this most charmed of American landscapes. Robinson provides a wonderfully readable biography of a place—but also a revealing autobiography of one of our most important and delightful writers.”—Bill McKibben, bestselling author of The End of Nature and Falter

“A colorful, digressive journey into incomparable terrain… Robinson pays homage to the range’s magnificence.”—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

09/01/2022
This is Robinson's (The Ministry for the Future) first nonfiction book, but it is not a stark departure from his award-winning science fiction. Climate change and its consequences, as well as environmental activism, have regularly featured in Robinson's novels, so it is not surprising at all that hiking and the Sierra Nevada mountain range are the focus here. After one reads this, it actually seems that in order to fully understand Robinson and his science fiction, it's almost necessary to read his nonfiction. Robinson narrates the audiobook and vividly describes how time and geology shaped the Sierras, and the Sierras in turn shaped him, his friends, and other important historical figures who have had the good fortune to spend time exploring them. VERDICT This would be a good addition to any memoir or travel collection, but it's also a fun "armchair" hiking experience for those who typically don't care for outdoor sports. Pair the audio with the text version, which contains photographs and other supplemental materials to enhance the reading experience.—Ammi Bui

Library Journal - Audio

Kim Robinson narrates his history of the Sierra Nevada—which range from California to Nevada—and the people who lived there, especially those who explored the mountains and protected them. He also tells stories of his own life. Robinson is a bestselling author of science fiction, and this personal reflection is well written, but the abundance of information, some of it only loosely connected to the mountains, gives the narration a stream-of-consciousness effect. Robinson’s pace is deliberate and easy to follow. His delivery is sufficiently expressive, and his entire performance is that of a person telling stories of his travels. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2022 - AudioFile

Kim Robinson narrates his history of the Sierra Nevada—which range from California to Nevada—and the people who lived there, especially those who explored the mountains and protected them. He also tells stories of his own life. Robinson is a bestselling author of science fiction, and this personal reflection is well written, but the abundance of information, some of it only loosely connected to the mountains, gives the narration a stream-of-consciousness effect. Robinson’s pace is deliberate and easy to follow. His delivery is sufficiently expressive, and his entire performance is that of a person telling stories of his travels. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2022 - AudioFile

The High Sierra: A Love Story

The High Sierra: A Love Story

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