Every morning I greet the day with a smile as I gaze out at the glorious Sierra Nevada mountains that ring my view of Lake Tahoe.
All day long, no matter where I go, they are with me, behind me, in front of me, or under me. And at the end of the day, it is behind those towering, majestic granite peaks that the sun runs to hide, leaving the sky in a plethora of color; the silhouette of their beauty is the last thing I see before night arrives. It is difficult to think of home and the lake separate from the Sierra Nevada mountains.
So you can imagine how thrilled I was to receive an advanced copy of “Luminous Mountains: The Sierra Nevada of California” written and photographed by Tim Palmer from one of the finest small publishing companies I know, Heyday Books in Berkeley, Calif.
The soft-cover book itself is beautiful with 135 striking color photographs, each one worthy of hanging with pride in anyone's living room. But the text is equally as compelling and when I began to read, I literally could not put it down. I felt as though it was I who was traveling the trails, be it snow-laden or verdant green, from here at home at Lake Tahoe, through Devils Postpile, up El Capitan or Mount Whitney, or down into some little known crannies south of Kings Canyon.
It was as if it was I who thought what Palmer wrote.
“Each rock caught my eye with its own sharpness of form, yet its dependence on other rocks was obvious, all piled up there together as they were. Stepping from boulder to boulder, I had only the simplest of thoughts. 'This is what makes up the Sierra Nevada — one rock on top of another.' No less, I saw that the range was made of trees that swayed together as a forest of snowmelt rivulets that flowed together as a stream of myriad life-forms together relying on the wildness of the land around them.”
He dazzles us with his incredible sense of timeless place and yet alerts us to its movement and change. He informs his reader with history, background information, and impacts, human and otherwise, without breaking his own reaction of wonderment to that which he is experiencing. Hence, we each experience it with him.
“At no time have I felt closer to the center of mountain power than during a snowstorm in the Sierra,” he exclaims.
Setting out from a cabin at Horseshoe Bend near Donner Summit on skis, he began to sense a storm was on its way. Reaching a saddle he looked around and noted, “The snow out there had begun to fall, and I knew that it would begin to fall on me, as well, in a matter of minutes. I smiled at the possibility, because I realized that to truly know these mountains, one must know the nature of snow.
The Sierra was even named for its snow. In 1776 Pedro Font wrote that he saw 'una gran sierra nevada' — a great snow covered range (from this etymology “Sierra” is a “range” and is properly singular, not plural). The Franciscan missionary was simply describing what he saw from a distance but the name stuck, perhaps because it caught the essence of the place as well as any single phrase could do.” For all of us who have experienced this winter, we can relate.
Tim Palmer, author of 17 books about the American landscape, conservation, adventure travel, and rivers, received the “Benjamin Franklin Award” for the best book on nature and the environment in 2004 for his book “California Wild,” also a text and photography book (and if you have never experienced it, be sure to add it to your list).
He also wrote the text for the Yosemite Association's “Yosemite: The Promise of Wilderness” which received the Director's Award from the National Park Service as the best book of the year in 1997.
His latest book, “Rivers of America” features 200 color photos of rivers nationwide. His travels throughout the Sierra have been by foot, skis, with his canoe and whitewater raft, as well as in his well-equipped van.
This is a book that belongs on every coffee table or by every bedside of anyone who lives in the Sierra Nevada or loves it here. And it would be read with envy and awe from anyone who has not been here! What Palmer has captured in words and images reminds us all to appreciate where we live, why we live here and it inspires us to venture forth and embrace it! I highly recommend it for yourself, your children or for anyone you care about.
As an aside, I was delighted to learn that beginning this spring, Heyday Books and the Yosemite Association will partner to produce books about Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevada. “Luminous Mountains” is the first in the series of books, and will be available in April.
Syndicated columnist Barbara Perlman-Whyman’s weekly good reads column can be read on tahoebonanza.com
If you would like to submit poetry, a book review of your own or what your book club is reading email bpwhyman@sbcglobal.net




Library Tip of the Week:
From 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday join everyone at the Incline Library for Reel Talk. This month the unrated film “Frankenstein” will be shown and is based on the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. While this version does veer from the book, it is the classic movie with Boris Karloff creating an unforgettable Frankenstein. Can a 75 year old black and white version still entertain you? Yes, it's alive! Alive! And free! Adults.

From 4 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Mcome to the Incline Library to enjoy and learn “Easy Magic You Can Do.” Local magician Larry Wilson delivers high-energy explosions of non-stop fun while teaching the audience to perform magic tricks using everyday items. All ages.




Literary Birthdays
This Week:
March 8 - Kenneth Graham (1859)
March 9 - Mickey Spillane (1918)
March 11- Ezra Jack Keats (1916)
March 12 - Carl Hiassen (1953)
Jack Keroauc (1922)
March 13 - L. Ron Hubbard (1911)
Ridley Pearson (1953)
Janet Flanner (1892)





Good Reads List:
Adults (fiction): “The Middle Place” by Kelly Corrigan
Young Adult (ages 13 through 17): “Kelly's Book” by Kelly Greenwald
Juvenile (4th through 6th grade): “The Year of the Rat: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac” by Oliver Chin
Children (2nd through 3rd grade): “Delta and Dawn: Mother and Baby Whale's Journey” by Stefanie Cruz