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NPT Reviews of Books and other Material

A collection of book reviews to help you pick the perfect read for your national park escape

Why Trust Science?

Never in the history of science has asking the question “Why Trust Science?” been more important than in 2020 because science denial in the face of climate change, pandemics, and the loss of biodiversity, among other challenges facing the world, threatens lives and the future of human communities across the globe.

The Cold Vanish: Seeking The Missing In North America’s Wildlands

An astonishing 600,000 people go missing in North America each year, most of whom are quickly found, but those who disappear in the wilder parts of the continent are often much harder to find. Journalist John Billman admits to being “obsessed with writing about missing persons in wild places,” and in this book he travels thousands of miles from Hawaii to Washington State to the wilds of northern Ontario pursuing intriguing stories of “cold vanishing.” The “cold” is often of the “cold case” sort and sometimes literally people disappearing into wild, cold places.

Our Wild Calling: How Connecting With Animals Can Transform Our Lives―And Save Theirs

They were young bulls, possibly even siblings, and their own full-fledged, testosterone-fueled combative rut was probably a full year away. Yet back and forth they jostled in our yard, testing each other not 20 feet from the backdoor, their antlers clattering against each other, steam flushing in bursts from their nostrils in the cold fall air as their gangly legs sought leverage in the not-yet-frozen ground.

Tahoma And Its People: A Natural History Of Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier towers above its surroundings. The 360-degree view from its summit is stunning, encompassing Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains to the west, Mount Baker far to the north, the Columbia River country to the east, spreading south toward Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Hood down in Oregon. I saw all of this on a perfectly clear summit day and having done so makes me appreciate the approach Jeff Antonelis-Lapp takes in this book.

Erosion: Essays Of Undoing

National park enthusiasts will likely be familiar with the writing of Terry Tempest Williams. Her previous book The Hour of Land told national park stories as only she, in her lyrical, insightful, and emotional way, can tell them. Erosion is not explicitly about national parks, though some of the essays lament what has happened to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monuments. She has already addressed the challenges of many other parks in that earlier work. The 32 pieces in this book, most of them essays, address a “world being torn to pieces,” being eroded, a condition that brings Williams, at times, to heartbreak.

Scenic Science Of The National Parks, An Explorer’s Guide To Wildlife, Geology And Botany

There are many resources to help you get the most out of your national park adventures. And there are dozens of guidebooks, it seems, that profess to be the authority on visiting the parks. But there’s a book coming out later this spring that takes a new approach to visiting the parks, an approach built around a park’s residents – their plants, wildlife, and even geology.

Grinnell: America’s Environmental Pioneer And His Restless Drive To Save The West

The pantheon of conservation leaders through American history is familiar; John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, Aldo Leopold, Bob Marshall, and David Brower most prominent. George Bird Grinnell deserves to be among them, but his name and his contributions are not as well known or appreciated. John Taliaferro has written the first comprehensive biography of Grinnell, which is a step toward recognizing the scope and significance of his long career.

The Grand Canyon: Between River And Rim

An estimated six million people visit the Grand Canyon annually. Most visitors look in from the South Rim or through the window of a helicopter, and roughly 26,000 float the Colorado River through all or part of the canyon. Very few in the recorded history of Grand Canyon exploration have walked its length (fewer than have walked on the moon, Kevin Fedarko tells photographer Pete McBride). Likely no one with the photographic skills of National Geographic photographer McBride have made this arduous journey, which covered 750 miles from Lees Ferry to the Grand Wash Cliffs at the canyon’s western end.

The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.