
The High Sierra
A Love Story
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Narrated by:
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Kim Stanley Robinson
About this listen
A “sublime” and “radically original” exploration of the Sierra Nevadas, the best mountains on Earth for hiking and camping, from New York Times best-selling 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 enthusiasts to prepare for a magnificent adventure.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Critic reviews
“Kim Stanley Robinson shows us that the best hiking mountains on earth are the earth itself. Learning how to make anything into materials for our sleep, shelter, yoga, or crazy concentration, hunting, gathering, and laughing. Being both empty and full. Stan Robinson's radically original vision of nature itself makes the world wild.” (Gary Snyder, author of The Practice of the Wild)
"The High Sierra: A Love Story is exactly that, a passionate bow to one of the great mountain ranges in the world. The power of Kim Stanley Robinson's imagination is known to us as his faithful readers. But what emerges as a surprise in this memoir of place is how he comes to know what he knows from the ground upward. With over 100 trips etched on to the soles of his feet, we witness a man in love with the world, both human and wild. We are taken into the open heart of his storytelling, that carries his awe and wonder and knife-edged perceptions into a reimagining of geologic time through the physical ground truthing of his body. I loved this book—just as I loved The Ministry for the Future. They are companion volumes as to why we should care about this beautiful, broken world we call home.” (Terry Tempest Williams, author of Erosion: Essays of Undoing)
“This is a sublime book; maybe not since Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra has anyone managed to convey in words the sheer exhilaration that pours from this most charmed of American landscapes. Robinson provides a wonderfully readable biography of a place—but also a revealing autobiography of one of our most important and delightful writers.” (Bill McKibben, best-selling author of The End of Nature and Falter)
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Complex, believable, nuanced, riveting
- By Lois on 04-07-17
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Strawberry Summer
- By: Melissa Brayden
- Narrated by: Paige McKinney
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
With the arrival of Courtney Carrington, Margaret's youth sparked into color. But first loves can scar. Margaret hasn't seen Courtney in years and that's for the best. But when Courtney loses her father and returns to Tanner Peak to take control of the family store, Margaret comes face-to-face with her past and the woman she's tried desperately to forget. The fact that Courtney has grown up more beautiful than ever certainly doesn't help matters.
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Another case of a decent story plagued by crappy narrating
- By dreacraftie28 on 07-07-17
By: Melissa Brayden
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The Wishing Bridge
- By: Viola Shipman
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Once the hottest mergers and acquisitions executive in the company, Henrietta Wegner can see the ambitious and impossibly young up-and-comers gunning for her job. When Henri’s boss makes it clear she’ll be starting the New Year unemployed unless she can close a big deal before the holidays, Henri impulsively tells him that she can convince her aging parents to sell Wegner’s—their iconic Frankenmuth, Michigan, Christmas store—to a massive, soulless corporation. It’s the kind of deal cool, corporate Henri has built her career on.
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Good Storyline
- By Vicki M on 11-26-23
By: Viola Shipman
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The Gift of Rain
- By: Tan Twan Eng
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin, Luke Thompson
- Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Tan Twan Eng's debut novel casts a powerful spell and has garnered comparisons to celebrated wartime storytellers Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene. Set during the tumult of World War II, on the lush Malayan island of Penang, The Gift of Rain tells a riveting and poignant tale about a young man caught in the tangle of wartime loyalties and deceits. In 1939, 16-year-old Philip Hutton - the half-Chinese, half-English youngest child of the head of one of Penang's great trading families - feels alienated from both the Chinese and British communities.
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Emotive and complex.
- By Jeff Lacy on 11-21-18
By: Tan Twan Eng
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Four Weddings and a Sixpence
- An Anthology
- By: Julia Quinn, Elizabeth Boyle, Laura Lee Guhrke, and others
- Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Beloved authors Julia Quinn, Elizabeth Boyle, Laura Lee Guhrke, and Stefanie Sloane deliver the stories of four friends from Madame Rochambeaux's Gentle School for Girls who find an old sixpence in their bedchamber and decide that it will be the lucky coin for each of their weddings…
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Delightful
- By Linda on 12-29-16
By: Julia Quinn, and others
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The Heart of the Woods
- By: Wyl Menmuir
- Narrated by: Wyl Menmuir
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Throughout history, trees have determined the tools we use, the boats we build, the stories we tell about the world and ourselves, the songs we sing, and some of our most important rituals. As such, our lives are intertwined with those of the trees and woodlands around us. In this journey deep into the woods, Wyl Menmuir travels the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland to meet the people who plant trees, the ecologists who study them, those who shape beautiful objects and tools from wood, and those who use them to help others.
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Perfect for all who love the outdoors!
- By Hannah on 09-10-24
By: Wyl Menmuir
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Wraith
- Hawaiian Shadows
- By: Edie Claire
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Seventeen-year-old Kali has always seen two sets of people: those living now, and those who lived before. But on her spring break in Hawaii, she is suddenly surrounded by more shadows than ever. Including one who, unlike the others, can see her too.
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Excellent ghost story!
- By LilMissMolly on 04-26-14
By: Edie Claire
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The Nature of Oaks
- The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees
- By: Douglas W. Tallamy
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 4 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Oaks sustain a complex and fascinating web of wildlife. The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for sustenance to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own backyards. The Nature of Oaks will inspire you to treasure these trees and to act to nurture and protect them.
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Inspirational
- By Kaysi12 on 07-22-22
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Forty Signs of Rain
- Science in the Capital, Book 1
- By: Kim Stanley Robinson
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim, Kim Stanley Robinson
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The best-selling author of the classic Mars trilogy and The Years of Rice and Salt returns with a riveting new trilogy of cutting-edge science, international politics, and the real-life ramifications of global warming as they are played out in our nation's capital - and in the daily lives of those at the center of the action. Hauntingly realistic, here is a novel of the near future that is inspired by scientific facts already making headlines. BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by author Kim Stanley Robinson.
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Its all
- By steve on 01-07-09
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Child of the River
- By: Irma Joubert
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Persomi is young, white, and poor, born the middle child of illiterate sharecroppers on the prosperous Fourie farm in the South African Bushveld. Persomi’s world is extraordinarily small. She has never been to the local village and spends her days absorbed in the rhythms of the natural world around her, escaping the brutality and squalor of her family home through the newspapers and books passed down to her from the main house and through her walks in the nearby mountains.
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Mostly Just Tedious and Ploding
- By Regina on 12-15-20
By: Irma Joubert
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The Sweetness of Water (Oprah’s Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Nathan Harris
- Narrated by: William DeMeritt
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry—freed by the Emancipation Proclamation—seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm. Prentiss and Landry, meanwhile, plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys. Equal parts beauty and terror, The Sweetness of Water is an epic whose grandeur locates humanity and love amid the most harrowing circumstances.
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Masterful storytelling and an exceptional audio performance
- By Pamela on 06-18-21
By: Nathan Harris
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The View from the Top
- By: Rachel Lacey
- Narrated by: Quinn Riley
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Emily Janssen prefers to play it safe. At thirty-five, she’s still working at the inn her grandmothers own while dreaming of a day when she’s able to support herself fully with her art. And while her friends have all hiked to the summit of the mountain in their hometown of Crescent Falls, Vermont, something has always held Emily back. Diana Devlin has already made it to the top. Well, almost. She’s this close to securing the promotion that will put her in line to take over as CEO of her family’s hotel chain when her father retires.
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Wow !! It is so much more than what you expect.
- By Nubia on 05-21-25
By: Rachel Lacey
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Sanctuary
- The True Story of an Irish Village, a Man Who Lost His Way, and the Rescue Donkeys That Led Him Home
- By: Patrick Barrett, Susy Flory
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For decades, his family rescued lost and forgotten donkeys in the Irish countryside. He had no idea that one day, the donkeys would rescue him. Sanctuary is the remarkable true story of how faith turned one lost man’s life around with the help of the rescue animals who loved him. It’s an antidote to despair and a call to hope, revealing the beauty and wonder of Ireland as you’ve never seen it before.
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The bond between people and animals
- By Carolyn Stephenson on 05-04-24
By: Patrick Barrett, and others
Spellbinding it the nature lover
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Makes me want to go backpacking again
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Fantastic Sierra story
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Nature
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Just what I needed to listen to
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Unique and beautiful California poetry
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Love it!
FaBuLouS!
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Inspirational AND practical
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One chapter is just a bibliography. I didn't get much out of it. Another chapter is about naming mountains and other land formations. It includes his opinions about what should be renamed. That was also not interesting to me. In terms of backpacking gear, he's kind of an ultra-light chauvinist which I found strange. He also recommends against carrying adequate water which I find dangerous.
Read this book is you're a Robinson fan and want what's as close to an autobiography as we're likely to get. Also read if you're an aspirational, occasional, or expert backpacker.
Must-read for fans of Robinson... or backpacking
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A Great Adventure
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