Sierra's Story


Book Description

Scarred and in pain after a car accident, a high school senior turns away from God, especially after remembering how her boyfriend and best friend were involved in the crash, and plans her revenge while the elderly woman sharing her hospital room urges her to forgive and forget.




The High Sierra


Book Description

A “sublime” and “radically original” exploration of the Sierra Nevadas, the best mountains on Earth for hiking and camping, from New York Times bestselling novelist Kim Stanley Robinson (Bill McKibben, Gary Snyder). Kim Stanley Robinson first ventured into the Sierra Nevada mountains during the summer of 1973. He returned from that encounter a changed man, awed by a landscape that made him feel as if he were simultaneously strolling through an art museum and scrambling on a jungle gym like an energized child. He has returned to the mountains throughout his life—more than a hundred trips—and has gathered a vast store of knowledge about them. The High Sierra is his lavish celebration of this exceptional place and an exploration of what makes this span of mountains one of the most compelling places on Earth. Over the course of a vivid and dramatic narrative, Robinson describes the geological forces that shaped the Sierras and the history of its exploration, going back to the indigenous peoples who made it home and whose traces can still be found today. He celebrates the people whose ideas and actions protected the High Sierra for future generations. He describes uniquely beautiful hikes and the trails to be avoided. Robinson’s own life-altering events, defining relationships, and unforgettable adventures form the narrative’s spine. And he illuminates the human communion with the wild and with the sublime, including the personal growth that only seems to come from time spent outdoors. The High Sierra is a gorgeous, absorbing immersion in a place, born out of a desire to understand and share one of the greatest rapture-inducing experiences our planet offers. Packed with maps, gear advice, more than 100 breathtaking photos, and much more, it will inspire veteran hikers, casual walkers, and travel readers to prepare for a magnificent adventure.




Survive!


Book Description

The man who accomplished one of the most remarkable feats of survival in history finally tells the story of the event that made worldwide news. This inspiring story shows what sheer determination can achieve against impossible odds. When Peter DeLeo set out one Sunday morning on a sightseeing and photography trip over the central Sierra Nevada mountains in California, he had no idea that he would soon be fighting for his life with the odds stacked very much against him. DeLeo’s single-engine plane encountered turbulence, and he and his two passengers crashed in the mountains. All three survived the accident but sustained multiple injuries. DeLeo had broken ribs, a shattered ankle, and a badly damaged shoulder. After assessing their situation, they decided that the passengers should remain with the plane while DeLeo would hike out to bring back help. It was already winter; he left the limited emergency supplies with the plane’s passengers; and he was hampered by his injuries, but DeLeo was determined to get help. He found or improvised shelter at night, carefully warmed himself during the daytime, drank from small pools of melted snow and ice, and slowly but steadily made his way toward civilization. Suffering from exhaustion and on the verge of collapse, he found a hot spring that provided him with temporary warmth and insects to eat. Injuries, dehydration, malnutrition, and a two-day blizzard slowed him, and a rockslide nearly killed him just as he glimpsed the valley and highway that he so desperately sought, but DeLeo’s courage saw him through. Meanwhile, Civil Air Patrol planes searched fruitlessly for the lost plane and for survivors; twice, DeLeo frantically tried to signal the search planes, but to no avail. When DeLeo finally reached a highway, he found it almost impossible to convince the authorities that he was the lost pilot who had been all but given up for dead. His astonishing survival, one of the most remarkable feats of endurance on record, made national and even international news. Now, for the first time, Peter DeLeo tells his remarkable story in gripping detail. His amazing saga is destined to become a classic.




Sierra Stories


Book Description

The author of Gold Rush Stories shares tales of the larger-than-life characters from the history of the legendary Sierra Nevada mountain range. With its 14,000-foot granite mountains, crystalline lakes, conifer forests, and hidden valleys, the Sierra Nevada has long been the domain of dreams, attracting the heroic and the delusional, the best of humanity and the worst. Stories abound, and characters emerge so outlandish and outrageous that they must be real. Could the human imagination have invented someone like Eliza Gilbert? Born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1818, she transformed herself into Lola Montez, born in Seville, Spain, in 1823, and brought to the Gold Country the provocative “Spider Dance”—impersonating a young woman repelling a legion of angry spiders under her petticoats. Or Otto Esche, who in 1860 imported fifteen two-humped Bactrian camels from Asia to transport goods to the mines. Or the artist Albert Bierstadt, whose paintings Mark Twain characterized as having “more the atmosphere of Kingdom-Come than of California.” Or multimillionaire George Whittell Jr., who was frequently spotted driving around Lake Tahoe in a luxurious convertible with his pet lion in the front seat. These, and scores more, spill out of the pages of this well-illustrated and lively tribute to the Sierra by a native son.




PFAPA: Sierra's Story


Book Description

PFAPA: Sierra's Story is the first published book containing information and resources for children suspected of having or being diagnosed with PFAPA (Periodic Fevers with Aphthous stomatitis, Pharyngitis, and Adenitis).







First Fam'lies of the Sierras


Book Description

"First Fam'lies of the Sierras" by Joaquin Miller is a collection of charming and adventurous stories set amidst the untamed wilderness of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Miller's vivid storytelling brings to life the unique characters and awe-inspiring landscapes of the region. As an early American literary figure, Miller's tales capture the spirit of exploration and resilience that characterized the era of western expansion.




My First Summer in the Sierra


Book Description

John Muir, a young Scottish immigrant, had not yet become a famed conservationist when he first trekked into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, not long after the Civil War. He was so captivated by what he saw that he decided to devote his life to the glorification and preservation of this magnificent wilderness. "My First Summer in the Sierra," whose heart is the diary Muir kept while tending sheep in Yosemite country, enticed thousands of Americans to visit this magical place, and resounds with Muir's regard for the "divine, enduring, unwasteable wealth" of the natural world. A classic of environmental literature, "My First Summer in the Sierra" continues to inspire readers to seek out such places for themselves and make them their own.




Grandpa's Stories


Book Description

My grandfather grew up in Arizona in the 1920s and 1930s. One weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor he joined the Navy. During the summer of 2012, my mother visited him and recorded his stories about growing up, World War II, and his time as an employee at the Pacific Bell Telephone Company. This is the history of the 20th century as he lived it. These are his words.




Sierra East


Book Description

"There are few more spectacular drives on Earth than Highway 395 along the foot of the great granite wall of the Sierra Nevada. In Sierra East, Genny Smith and her team of experts tell the story of that amazing terrain, and its fantastic contours, molded by tectonic upthrusts and Pleistocene glaciers; its spectacular weathers; its amazing diversity of plant and animal life; and the human struggles over its life-giving waters."--Harold Gilliam, author of Weather of the San Francisco Bay Region "For those of us who live within the Sierra East territory, this is the 'right' side of California. It is a wondrous place to visit. This book is not a superficial tourist guide to what you may see from the scenic overlooks. It is a real guidebook covering all the natural and unnatural history as well as geology, weather, and water. There are thorough descriptions of plants and animals you may wander across plus information on how they cope with the extreme rigors of the high mountains and harsh deserts."--Sally Gaines, co-founder of the Mono Lake Committee "This is the first comprehensive natural history of the Eastern Sierra. An outstanding team of authors, with years of experience in the region, meets the challenge of covering their specialties from the Mojave Desert to the tops of 14,000-foot mountains. This diverse material is uniformly accessible in a readable style."--Frank L. Powell, Director, White Mountain Research Station, University of California, San Diego