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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The California Field Atlas | 4/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_California_Field_Atlas | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T08:37:51.144541+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Critical response === The book received generally positive reviews, primarily from local California publications and outlets. John McMurtrie, the book editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, called the California Field Atlas a "magnificent ode to the natural wonders of [Kaufmann's] home state" and said it "stands as one of the finest books ever published by Heyday". The Chronicle later listed it as one of the 100 best books of 2017. In Diablo Magazine, Linda Lenhoff remarked on its "stunning detail" and "passionate plea" for conservation. Judith M. Gallman at Oakland Magazine wrote "[s]cience and animal lovers will find much to cherish in this unusually lovely and hefty collection." Rachael Myrow, a host of Forum on NPR affiliate KQED, compared the book to Rebecca Solnit's Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas (2010), saying that for both books, the reader is "staring at something you think you know, California, but you're looking at a reading of it that most people don't think of." Kim Wyatt at Lake Tahoe News wrote that the book was "[b]reathtaking and informative and one of a kind" and "will lead to fresh insights about the Golden State, promoting geographic literacy, historical understanding and perhaps, in turn, stewardship of this amazing place we call home." Ryan Scarrow, in a review published by the academic journal Nature Plants, said that the technical imprecision of the illustrations would leave readers "disappointed" if they were seeking rigorous, scientifically accurate depictions of plant life or a practical, navigational guide. Scarrow also said the book's organization "can lead to more frustrated searching than reading". But he concluded that "[t]hese issues can be overlooked, however, given the sheer pleasure of Kaufmann's artwork and passion for ... geographic literacy," a quality which Scarrow said "not only enriches us in how we read nature, but also how we imagine and bring that nature into ourselves." Writing for the Journal of Alta California, Paul Saffo asked whether the California Field Atlas would be a "one-off, or the first exemplar of a new genre," answering "I suspect that it is the latter, a tome that will inspire others to follow the trail Kaufmann has blazed." Saffo compared Kaufmann to John Muir, and the California Field Atlas to books like the California Water Atlas (1979) and coffee table books published by the Sierra Club in the 1960s that led to the establishment of several national monuments and were influential in the early environmental movement in the United States. In Entropy, Mike Sonksen said the book was "a revelation", praising the depth of Kaufmann's knowledge, the book's educational value, the quality of his prose, and the aesthetic beauty and detail of his paintings. Sonksen later named it one of the 23 notable books of 2018 for the Los Angeles-area independent TV station KCET. It was named one of Modern Hiker's favorite books of 2018, with site owner Casey Schreiner writing that it "forces you to rethink the way you look at the state and its landscape, and it's gorgeous to look at, too." The travel publication Afar named it one of the "eight essential books for map nerds". In a review of Kaufmann's subsequent book for the Chronicle, Peter Fisher called the Field Atlas a "magnum opus" that "did justice to every facet of natural California—geology and botany, wildlife and weather—in fact-laden prose matched with lyrical watercolors." In October 2019, Olivia Box of Backpacker named the book among nine "new wilderness classics" worthy of entering the canon of great nature writing exemplified by Jack London, saying it "feels both retro and achingly relevant today."
=== Awards === The California Field Atlas received several awards. It won the San Francisco Foundation's 2016 Phelan Award for California literature and, as such, was placed in the California Historical Society archives at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library. At the 87th California Book Awards in 2018, the Commonwealth Club of California recognized the book with a gold medal award for notable contribution to publishing, with a corresponding cash prize of $5,000. It won the Book of the Year Award in the "regional interest" category from NCIBA (Northern California Independent Booksellers Associated). It was also a finalist in the 2018 Northern California Book Awards, presented by Poetry Flash, PEN West, the San Francisco Public Library, and other bookseller and library-affiliated organizations.
== Follow-ups == In 2018, Kaufmann announced that he had plans to publish four follow-up books. The next book in the series, The State of Water: Understanding California's Most Precious Resource, was published in June 2019. The State of Water was set to be followed in late 2019 and 2020 by The California Lands trilogy, consisting of The Forests of California, The Coasts of California, and The Deserts of California. The release dates of the trilogy were subsequently delayed until 2020 and early 2021—with the addition of a fifth book, titled The State of Fire: Understanding Why, Where and How California Burns, to be released in late 2021.
== References ==
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=== Sources ===
== External links == The California Field Atlas in libraries (WorldCat catalog) Official site coyote and thunder – Obi Kaufmann's homepage The California Field Atlas at Heyday Books