November 2023
The High Sierra: A Love Story, by Kim Stanely Robinson. 2022.
* I was reading this for other reasons, but nevertheless it fits well into my project to read essays that focus on landscape and natural history.
TL;DR: I love this book. But it is not for everyone. On the other hand, it is organized in such a way that readers interested in particular topics — geology, history, etc. – could skip through the book attending to one or a few themes that interest them. It has great pictures, too.
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I’m a big fan of KSR, and think it likely that I’ve read everything he’s written, although it is possible that that omits a few early science fiction novels that were retroactively published after he became better known. I like the complex characters he develops, the intensely developed worlds he portrays, and especially his attention to geology, climate, economics, politics, and the role of large institutions – themes that are uncommon in much science fiction. Also unusual is that he sometimes ventures beyond the borders of SF, as with his novel Years of Rice and Salt, and especially with this book, which is multi-threaded work the interweaves memoir, geology, natural history and history.
The book and its themes
This book is a product of KSR’s lifelong obsession with backpacking in the Sierra Nevada. although structured by a memoir of his own life, the book devotes the bulk of its attention to discussions of topics ranging from geology, hiking routes, historical figures, and so on. The chapters are titled with a theme and a number, so that it would be easy, for example, to read through the book with a focus on ‘geology,’ or ‘Sierra people,’ or ‘backpacking routes.’
Perhaps a good way to start is to list some of the themes:
- My Sierra Life – His memoir, focusing on his time in the Sierra
- Geology – The geology of the High Sierra — Batholiths, Basins and so on…
- Sierra People – People, famous and otherwise, who were involved in exploring and protecting the Sierra… but also includes a chapter on native americans and several chapters on wildlife
- Snow Camping – Just what you would expect.
- Names – Reflections on names (the good, the bad and the ugly) and naming of peaks and passes, and proposals for some re-naming
- Moments of Being – What it is like to be backpacking in the Sierra
- Psychogeology – Very interesting reflections on how the various aspects of Sierra geography effect the human experience of it
- Routes – Comments on and descriptions of favorite routes and areas
- The Swiss Alps – Description of hiking he did while in Switzerland for several years, and on the ways in which the Alps differ from the Sierra.
He also includes a very nice annotated bibliography, though, puzzlingly, it is not at the end of the book, but about 90% of the way through. One especially nice aspect of the bibliography, at least for those who enjoy his other work, is that it indicates where his Sierra experience shows up in his fictional works.
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