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.
... wants to be a hybrid: a personal memoir and a hiking journal, a geology lesson and a history lesson about one of the truly epic nature spots in the world. The book’s structure attempts to create order from Robinson’s sheer exuberance and enthusiasm, but only half-delivers on that promise ... I was curious as to how the landscape felt different under the influence, but Robinson for a time shies away from lived-in experience. Instead, he has a brief discussion with himself of which word — surreal, mystical or metaphysical — describes that day best and then veers into a nostalgia-laden account of his life in California at the time ... Throughout these chapters, it felt as if Robison had recorded freewheeling riffs on his life in mountains and that I was reading a transcript ... Sometimes these moments reach an ecstatic crescendo similar to the effect of Walt Whitman’s poetry, but sometimes Robinson cannot quite show us what he’s telling us, despite detailed accounts of his various hikes ... The overall effect is of someone showing slides to a neighbor, with a definite homespun charm ... It sometimes feels as if readers have been given the raw materials from which they might choose to write their own book ... Yet the book also has passion galore and glorious moments when science and poetry meet ... 'The map is not the territory,' Robinson writes, but neither is a territory always useful without the anchor of a good map — a strong argument for dipping into The High Sierra, rather than journeying through it end-to-end.
A capacious and truly original work of nonfiction ... A mashup of travelogue, geology lesson, hiking guide, history and meditation, all wrapped in a revealing and personal memoir...the book is, in essence, an exuberant celebration of finding purpose in nature ... Accounts of these experiences, sometimes risky, sometimes funny, but always deeply meaningful, give shape to Robinson’s larger narrative. The memories are intercut and augmented by chapters delineated by categories such as geology, Sierra people, routes and moments of being. These disparate chapters coalesce into a surprisingly seamless narrative that conveys the full measure of Robinson’s deep affection for the place and its past, as well as its significance to him personally ... Robinson’s writing is companionable and welcoming, never dry or preachy ... The High Sierra should not be narrowly viewed as a book only for the die-hard outdoorsperson. Robinson’s greater project, at which he succeeds splendidly, is to share the magic of his personal happy place, to promote not only its admiration but also its preservation.
Robinson’s knowledge and adoration of the Sierra’s reverberate ... Robinson’s writing is clear, fun, and filled with joy for time spent in the mountains. This lengthy memoir will appeal to fans of Robinson and the Sierras.
