The High Sierra : a love story /

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)

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

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. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.