Welcome!

Enrich Your Travels with Longitude

We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.

SIGN UP FOR

Longitude News

Get our monthly e-mail update

GET A

Catalog

FATHER'S DAY

City of Fortune, How Venice Ruled the Seas

Roger Crowley

SEE ALL >

PROVENCE & THE COTE D'AZUR

A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France

Georgeanne Brennan

SEE ALL >

OUR FAVORITES

Arctic Dreams

Barry Lopez

SEE ALL >

PENGUIN CLASSICS

The Log from the Sea of Cortez

John Steinbeck

SEE ALL >

California: Big Sur Coast

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

  • E-MAIL
  • PRINT

Kids

Books for

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

Item EXCAL112. Buy these 3 items as a set for $62 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

ADD SET
TO BOOKBAG
Assembling California

Assembling California

by John McPhee

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

Another fine book on geology and natural history from John McPhee, this time in the company of Eldridge Moores, on travels throughout California. (USW187, $16.00)

National Audubon Society Field Guide to California

National Audubon Society Field Guide to California

by Peter Alden

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 448 PAGES

A compact, easy-to-use guide to 1,000 of California's trees, wildflowers, mammals, insects, birds and other flora and fauna. (CAL07, $19.95)

California Map

by Borch Maps

  • 2008
  • MAP

A laminated, folded map of California, shown at a scale of 1:1,100,000. (CAL55, $9.95)

 
Eyewitness Guide California

Eyewitness Guide California


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 660 PAGES

A literate, visually rich guide to the Golden State, featuring color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a region-by-region synopsis of California's attractions with a particular focus on San Francisco and Los Angeles. (USW146, $30.00)

Hill Guide Santa Barbara & the Central Coast


by Kathleen Hill | Gerald Hill

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 300 PAGES

A homegrown guide to Santa Barbara and surroundings from two longtime residents of California, both practical and personal in its delivery of travel information and regional background. (CAL115, $14.95)

The Measure of Her Powers, An M.F.K. Fisher Reader

The Measure of Her Powers, An M.F.K. Fisher Reader


by M. F. K. Fisher

  • FOOD
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 432 PAGES

A fat, judicious selection of M.F.K. Fisher's writings, which spanned a lifetime and chronicled adventures (culinary and otherwise) in France, Switzerland and Italy, on shipboard and in her native California. (CUL01, $21.95)

California the Beautiful

California the Beautiful


by Galen Rowell

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2009
  • HARD COVER
  • 159 PAGES

Rowell's exquisite photographs are accompanied by excerpts from Joan Didion, M.F.K. Fisher, Jack London, William Saroyan and many other luminaries in this celebration of the nature and spirit of California. (CAL277, $19.95)

California, A History

California, A History


by Kevin Starr

  • HISTORY
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

A lively short history in the excellent Modern Library Chronicles series, written by a renowned historian. (CAL204, $14.95)

California, America's High-stakes Experiment


by Peter Schrag

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • HARD COVER
  • 328 PAGES

Schrag analyzes the drastic political ups and downs California has faced over the past decades, including issues such as immigration and globalization. (CAL201, $24.95)

Rush for Riches, Gold Fever and the Making of California

Rush for Riches, Gold Fever and the Making of California


by J. S. Holliday

  • HISTORY
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

An illustrated, oversize history of the California Gold Rush and its effects by a noted expert, covering the 1830's through the 1890's and packed with more than 200 illustrations and archival photographs. (USW190, $39.95)

Where I Was From

Where I Was From


by Joan Didion

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

Joan Didion's personal history and provacative critique of California. (CAL153, $15.00)

Farewell to Manzanar

Farewell to Manzanar


by Jeanne W. Houston | James D. Houston

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1981
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

The best-selling memoir of life in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. (CAL93, $6.99)

Angle of Repose

Angle of Repose


by Wallace Stegner

  • LITERATURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 592 PAGES

A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of one man's search for his grandparents' story. It beautifully weaves the history of the American West and a glimpse of their life in California, Colorado and Idaho. (USW301, $16.00)

Big Sur

Big Sur


by Jack Kerouac

  • LITERATURE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 241 PAGES

Kerouac's gritty, moving take on the destruction of his own myth, as the King of the Beats retires to a seaside shack outside San Francisco. (CAL295, $15.00)

Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch


by Henry Miller

  • LITERATURE
  • 1978
  • PAPER

A loving, observant tribute to Big Sur, Miller's home for 15 years. As with many of his works, this is more a collection of reflections, anecdotes and character portraits than a straightforward narrative, and it's just as evocative and thought-provoking as anything he has written. First published in 1957. (CAL143, $18.95)

Highway 99, A Literary Journey Through California's Great Central Valley


by Stan Yogi

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 448 PAGES

An excellent anthology of literature about the vast swathe of California that lies between San Francisco and L.A, including contemporary pieces, along with the writing of John Muir, John Steinbeck and William Saroyan. (CAL92, $18.95)

Natural State, A Literary Anthology of California Nature Writing


by Steven Gilbar

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

Divided by ecological region, this book is a literary tour of California's unrivaled natural diversity, featuring essays and excerpts by such great writers as Barry Lopez, Gretel Ehrlich and John McPhee. Gary Snyder provided the afterword. (CAL101, $26.95)

Tales of Santa Barbara, From Native Storytellers to Sue Grafton


by Steven Gilbar | Dean Stewart

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 179 PAGES

A collection of fiction and traditional stories about the Santa Barbara area. (CAL106, $12.95)

The Literature of California, Vol. 1

The Literature of California, Vol. 1


by Jack Hicks | Al Young | James D. Houston | Maxine Hong Kingston

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 653 PAGES

A best-of anthology of California writing, pre-1945. (CAL102, $29.95)

Wild God of the World, An Anthology of Robinson Jeffers


by Robinson Jeffers

  • LITERATURE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

A collection of pieces from Carmel, California's Robinson Jeffers, the prolific poet from the first half of the 20th century. (CAL142, $20.95)

An Island Called California, An Ecological Introduction to Its Natural Communities

An Island Called California, An Ecological Introduction to Its Natural Communities


by Elna S. Bakker

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1984
  • PAPER
  • 484 PAGES

An introduction to the ecology and wildlife of the Golden State, this volume is filled with photographs illustrating a variety plants, animals and geological features found throughout the deserts, forests and coastline of California. (CAL11, $25.95)

Oaks of California


by Bruce Pavlik | Pamela Muick | Sharon Johnson

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1993
  • PAPER
  • 184 PAGES

A natural history of the oak in California. (CAL63, $22.95)

The Natural History of Big Sur


by Paul Henson | Donald J. Usner | Valerie A. Kells

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1996
  • PAPER

A natural history and guide to Big Sur, California with detailed information on specific sites and trails. (CAL62, $29.95)

Coastal Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest

Coastal Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest


by Elizabeth Horn

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 179 PAGES

A handy photo-identification guide to 200 species from British Columbia south to northern California, divided by habitats and plant family. (PNW15, $14.00)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.