In this turn-of-the-century desert hymn, Austin -- a writer and naturalist who accompanied her husband on assignment to Death Valley in the 1890s -- finds a vibrant ecosystem where her forbears saw wasteland. An illuminating natural history, this slim book is also a meditation on things spiritual and an activist report on race relations in the desert. Originally published in 1903, this Penguin Nature Classic edition includes an introduction by fellow desert rat Terry Tempest Williams.  (CAL66, $13.00)