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MOUNTAIN TRAVEL-SOBEK
California Coastal Explorer   |   READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

Essential Books These 5 items are available for $72, including
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Moon Handbook Coastal California  •  Kim Weir
GUIDEBOOK •  2009 •  PAPER  • 550 PAGES
A practical guide to the Californian coast by veteran Moon Handbook writer Kim Weir, which features information on food, accommodations and attractions. (CAL189, $19.95)
 
Travelers' Tales San Francisco  •  James O'Reilly  •  Larry Habegger  •  Sean O'Reilly
ANTHOLOGY •  2002 •  PAPER  • 496 PAGES
An engaging, insightful and entertaining selection of mostly contemporary eyewitness reports, all set in the city of San Francisco; a great literary profile of a dynamic city. (SFO15, $18.95)
  Travelers' Tales San Francisco
Napa, the Story of an American Eden  •  James Conway
HISTORY •  1992 •  PAPER  • 560 PAGES
James Conway, a journalist and oenophile, is an informed and perceptive guide to the Napa Valley, the heart of the United States wine industry. He expertly combines history, personal anecdote, wine criticism and social commentary into a definitive portrait of a place overflowing not only with cabernets and chardonnays, but also with genuine connoisseurs, scores of dilettantes, feuds, scandals, and plenty of money. (USW169, $16.00)
  Napa, the Story of an American Eden
Assembling California  •  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. A seismologist at the University of California at Davis, Moores is an excellent guide to the complex tectonics of the region. There's no one better at explaining geology than McPhee. (USW187, $16.00)
  Assembling California
San Francisco Bay Map  •   Great Pacific Map Company
MAP
A map of the San Francisco Bay area, including Oakland, San Jose, Napa, Sonoma and Point Reyes, at a scale of 1:145,000. Two Sides. 39x27 inches. (CAL194, $5.95)
 
 

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Point Reyes National Seashore  •   Tom Harrison Maps    •  A colorful, topographic map of Point Reyes National Seashore, at a scale of 1:48,000. (CAL58, $9.95)
 
 
Compass Guide Coastal California  •  John Doerper  •  Galen Rowell   • GUIDEBOOK  •  This compact guide is an excellent overview of coastal California, with particular emphasis on history, nature and visitor attractions. (CAL38, $21.00)
 
 
Exploring Point Reyes: A Guide to Point Reyes National Seashore  •  Phil Arnot  •  Elvira Monroe   • GUIDEBOOK  •  A compact introduction to Point Reyes National Seashore, with natural history, geography and plenty of information on trails and hiking. Written by an avid hiker in the region, it is illustrated with maps and photographs. (CAL57, $10.95)
 
 
Fodor's San Francisco's 25 Best  •   Fodor's   • GUIDEBOOK  •  A shirt-pocket guide to San Francisco, this slim book includes an excellent map of the center of the city and essential information on its highlights. (USW185, $11.95)
 
 
The Napa & Sonoma Book, A Complete Guide  •   Melink, Peg  •  Tim Fish   • GUIDEBOOK  •  An excellent, locally produced guidebook mixing history, culture and anecdote with up-to-date practical information, including detail on wineries, restaurant recommendations and accommodations. (CAL195, $18.95)
 
 
The Accidental Connoisseur, An Irreverent Journey Through the Wine World  •  Lawrence Osborne   • FOOD  •  With a winning wit and not a drop of pretense, Osborne sets out to discover what's what with wine, traveling through Sonoma and Napa, France, Italy and other European wine meccas, 11 adventures in all. He meets plenty of interesting characters along the way, revealing much about the pleasures of wine (and travel!). (TVL31, $15.00)
 
 
A Crack in the Edge of the World, America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906  •  Simon Winchester   • HISTORY  •  Geologist, master storyteller, traveler and journalist, Simon Winchester succeeds again in this fast-paced, utterly fascinating account of the great 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco. (CAL193, $15.99)
 
 
Napa Stories, Profiles, Reflections and Recipes from the Napa Valley  •  Michael Chiarello  •  Janet Kessel Fletcher  •  Steven Rothfeld   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  The author of "The Tra Vigne Cookbook" serves up this delightfully readable profile of Napa wines and winemakers, chronicling the origins of various wineries, the vineyard families, the struggles of the early days, the development of new varietals, the current winemaking climate and prospects for the future. With 150 photographs. (CAL77, $55.00)
 
 
Rush for Riches, Gold Fever and the Making of California  •  J. S. Holliday   • HISTORY  •  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)
 
 
A Tale of Two Valleys  •  Alan Deutschman   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  In this intimate portrait of Napa and Sonoma -- and the often acrimonious cultural divide between the two -- journalist Alan Deutschman combines sketches of people and places with interview and commentary. He captures the bohemian cool of Sonoma and the oh-so-affluent Napa wine estates (and pretensions). (CAL196, $16.00)
 
 
Fifth Chinese Daughter  •  Jade Snow Wong   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  First published in 1945, Jade Snow Wong's memoir is a simply told, moving story of family life in pre-WWII San Francisco Chinatown. (SFO08, $13.95)
 
 
Highway 99, The Literature of California's Great Central Valley  •  Stan Yogi   • ANTHOLOGY  •  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, $16.00)
 
 
Natural State, A Literary Anthology of California Nature Writing  •  Steven Gilbar   • ANTHOLOGY  •  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, $22.95)
 
 
Mendocino and Other Stories  •  Ann Packer   • LITERATURE  •  These ten memorable slice-of-life stories, which originally appeared in the New Yorker and Ploughshares magazines, are set primarily in northern California and recount the lives of ordinary people in unusual situations. (CAL192, $13.95)
 
 
Slouching Towards Bethlehem  •  Joan Didion   • LITERATURE  •  A classic collection of essays on the 60s cultural climate, first published in 1968. In the acclaimed title essay, Didion vividly describes the landscape, mood and culture of 60s San Francisco. (SFO11, $14.00)
 
 
The Silverado Squatters  •  Robert Louis Stevenson   • LITERATURE  •  A classic account of Calistoga and the Napa Valley. Stevenson vividly describes the characters he meets while wandering the region, where he and his wife settled in a bunkhouse of an abandoned silver mine. (CAL01, $16.95)
 
 
My First Summer in the Sierra  •  John Muir  •  Galen Rowell   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  Muir's original account of his first summer in Yosemite and surrounding High Sierras, which he wrote based on his youthful notebooks of the summer of 1869. (CAL47, $12.00)
 
 
A Natural History of Western Trees  •  Donald Culross Peattie   • FIELD GUIDE  •  Not exactly a field guide, Peattie's book is scattered with anecdotes and information on aboriginal use, folk names, and economic value of each species. He offers rich full-length portraits of his favorite trees, and the original wood engravings of the 1950 classic are also included. (USW191, $21.00)
 
 
National Audubon Society Field Guide to California  •  Peter Alden   • FIELD GUIDE  •  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)
 
 
The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America  •  David Sibley   • FIELD GUIDE  •  A compact, geographically-specific version of the Sibley Guide with all-new range maps, the same glorious illustrations and expanded, extremely valuable descriptions of each bird. (USW418, $19.95)
 
 


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