KimStanleyRobinson.info

The reference site for Kim Stanley Robinson

Category: non-fiction

  • The High Sierra: A Love Story

    The High Sierra: A Love Story is Kim Stanley Robinson’s non-fiction book on the Sierra Nevada of California. It was published by Hachette / Little, Brown and Company on May 10, 2022. The audiobook version is read by Robinson himself.

    The synopsis reads:

    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.

    It is dedicated to the memory of Terry Baier.

    Contents

    A book of great variety, it consists in many chapters alternating across several groups (in the same format as 2312):

    • My Sierra Life
    • Geology
    • Sierra People
    • Psychogeology
    • Snow Camping
    • Names
    • Moments of Being
    • Routes
    • The Swiss Alps
    • + An Annotated Sierra Bibliography

    Publication History

    • Little, Brown and Company, May 2022

    Excerpts can be found at:

    Awards

    Reviews

    Resources

    On KSR.info: interviews and more:

    External:

  • The Novels Of Philip K. Dick

    The Novels Of Philip K. Dick is Kim Stanley Robinson’s thesis for his Ph.D. in English literature; it was completed in 1982 and revised for publication in 1984. It is a literary review of the works of acclaimed American science fiction author Philip Kindred Dick, author of The Man In The High Castle, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, VALIS and many others.

    Publication History

    • University of California San Diego, 1982
    • UMI Research Press, 1984
    • UMI Research Press, June 1989
    • Les Moutons Électriques, as Les Romans de Philip K. Dick (French Translation), June 2005
    • Shayol, as Die Romane Des Philip K. Dick (German Translation), November 2005

    Additionally, excerpts of chapter 4 were included as the introduction to the German Translation of Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle (Translated into German as Das Orakel vom Berge).

     

    • Heyne, Das Orakel vom Berge, 2000
    • Heyne, Das Orakel vom Berge, August 2008

    Reviews

     

    • The Washington Post, February 24, 1985, John Clute
    • Fantasy Review, March 1985, E. F. Bleiler
    • Locus, August 1985, Debbie Notkin
    • Science Fiction Studies, November 1985, Merritt Abrash
    • Science Fiction Studies, July 1987, George Slusser (response to Abrash)
    • Science Fiction Studies, July 1987, Kim Stanley Robinson (response to Abrash)
    • Science Fiction Studies, July 1987, Merritt Abrash (response to Robinson & Slusser)
    • Galaxies, September 2005, Claude Ecken (in French)
    • Bifrost, October 2005, Frédéric Jaccaud (in French)

    Resources