Recommended Reading

Sometimes, I'm asked how I find all of the places I go to. I do a lot of research, which includes reading a lot of books. Below is a selected list of books in my library. I’ve even read some of them!

Books with links are available on Amazon. Purchasing a book there will help support this site. Those without a link are out of print, or I couldn't find them on Amazon.

This list is a work in progress. I am continually adding more books to my library.

Updated: 4/18/24


#

A

  • Abandoned Settlements of the Eastern Mojave - Alan Hensher
  • Abandoned Washington State: From Old Barns to Atom Bombs - Howard Frisk
  • Aboriginal Alpine Ceremonialism in the White Mountains, California - Christopher Morgan, Robert L. Bettinger, Mark Giambastiani
  • Aboriginal Salt Mine at Camp Verde, Arizona - Earl H Morris
  • Across the San Juan Mountains - T. A. Rickard
  • Adjacent Lands Study, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona - NPS
  • Adventure of Caving - David R. McClurg
  • Adventures With a Desert Bush Pilot - Sylvia Winslow
  • Adventures with the Misfits - Ken Wortley
  • Adventures with the Mojave Phone Booth - Godfrey "Doc" Daniels
  • Afoot and Afield: Inland Empire: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide - David Money Harris, Jennifer Money Harris
  • Afoot and Afield: Las Vegas and Southern Nevada - Brian Beffort
  • Alpine Caving Techniques: A Complete Guide to Safe and Efficient Caving - George Marbach, Bernard Tourte
  • Alpine Sierra Trailblazer: Where to Hike, Ski, Bike, Fish and Drive from Tahoe to Yosemite - Jerry Sprout, Janie Sprout
  • Amateur Archaeologist in the Great Basin - L. J. Ettinger
  • Ambush, The Story of Bill Keys - Art Kidwell
  • American Indian Rock Art - various volumes
  • Anasazi Basketmaker: papers from the 1990 Wetherill-Grand Gulch Symposium - Victoria M Atkins
  • Ancient Calendrical Observing Sites in California's Mojave Desert and
    Sierra Nevada - Merle F. Walker
  • Ancient Peoples and Cultures of Death Valley - William Wallace, Edith Wallace
  • Ancient Peoples of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau - Steven R Simms
  • Ancient Rock Carvings of the Central Sierra - Willis A Gortner
  • Ancient Ruins of the Southwest: An Archaeological Guide - David Grant Noble
  • Ancient Universal Language of Man: Deciphering Petroglyphs - Chris Hegg
  • Ancient Visions: Petroglyphs and Pictographs of the Wind River and Bighorn Country, Wyoming and Montana - Julie Francis, Lawrence L Loendorf
  • Antique Mining Equipment and Collectibles - David W. Pearson, Ron Bommarito
  • Anza-Borrego Desert Region: A Guide to State Park and Adjacent Areas of the Western Colorado Desert - Diana Lindsay, Lowell Lindsay
  • Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Cultural Resources Inventory - Joan S. Schneider, Ph.D., Matthew C. Hall, Ph.D., Marla Mealey, M.A.
  • Archaeological Inventory Report of the Owlshead Amargosa Mojave Basin Planning Units of the Southern California Desert Area - Richard H Brooks, Richard Wilson, Sheilagh Brooks
  • Archaeological Explorations in Shasta Valley, California - Blossom Hamusek, Eric W. Ritter, Julie Burcell
  • Archaeological Investigations in Death Valley National Monument 1952-1957 - W. J. Wallace
  • Archaeological Investigations in the Southern Sierra Nevada: the Bear Mountain Segment of the Pacific Crest Trail - Kelly McGuire, Alan P. Garfinkel
  • Archaeology and History of the McCain Valley Study Area, Eastern San Diego County, California - John R. Cook, Scott G. Fulmer
  • Archaeology and Rock Art of the Eastern Sierra and Great Basin Frontier - Alan Garfinkel
  • Archaeology of Pinyon House, Two Eagles, and Crater Middens: Three Residential Sites in Owens Valley, Eastern California - Robert L. Bettinger
  • Archaeology of the Northeast Mojave Desert - Gary B. Coombs
  • Archaeology of the Western Mojave - Gary B. Coombs
  • Archaeology of Selected Springs and Playas on Fort Irwin and in Portions of the Avawatz Mountains - Russell L Kaldenberg
  • Archaeology of Southeast Arizona - A Class I Cultural Resource Inventory - Gordon Bronitsky and James D. Merritt
  • Archaeology of Wildrose Canyon, Death Valley National Monument - William James Wallace; Edith S. Taylor
  • Archaeological Survey of Mutau Flat Ventura County, California - Hal Eberhart, Agnes Bierman Babcock
  • Archaeological Survey of the Mojave River and Adjacent Regions - Gerald A. Smith
  • Archaeological Survey Report for the Salton Seismic Imaging Project - Michael Mirro, M.A., R.P.A., Melinda Horne, M.A., R.P.A., Dennis P. McDougall, Joan George
  • Archeological Assessment of Canyon de Chelly National Monument - James A. McDonald
  • Archeological Data Recovery at the Rim of the Grand Canyon, Shoshone Point Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona - Nancy E. Pearson
  • Archeological Inventory and Testing at Indian Camp and Tie Canyon, Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California - Nancy E. Pearson
  • Archeological Investigations along Cactus Forest Drive - Loy C. Neff, Nancy E. Pearson, Nicole M. Arendt
  • Archeological Investigations at 3-Mile Bar: Testing at Sites AZ C:02:84 and C:02:40 (GC) Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona - Loy C. Neff, Christopher C. Corey
  • Archeological Investigations at Ferry Swale Bench: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona - Loy C. Neff, Meredith A. Wilson
  • Archeological Investigations at Joshua Tree National Park, California - Loy C. Neff and Meredith A. Wilson
  • Archeological Investigations at Puerco Ruin, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona - Jeffery F. Burton
  • Archeological Investigations at the Upper Ruin, Tonto National Monument Part 1 Salvage Excavations at the Upper Ruin, AZ - Gregory L. Fox, Elaine A. Guthrie
  • Archeological Investigation of Rooms 15 and 16 at the Upper Cliff Dwelling (AZ U:8:48 [ASM]), Tonto National Monument - Gregory L. Fox
  • Archeological Investigations in the Central Sierra Nevada: The 1981 El Portal Project - Mark F. Baumler, Scott L. Carpenter
  • Archeological Overview of Great Basin National Park - Krista Deal
  • Archeological Overview of Petrified Forest National Park - Yvonne G. Stewart
  • Archeological Overview of Redwood National Park - Michael J. Moratto
  • Archeological Research Design For Yosemite National Park, California - Michael J. Moratto
  • Archeological Survey and Architectural Study of Montezuma Castle National Monument - Susan J. Wells, Keith M. Anderson
  • Archeological Survey and Testing at Petrified Forest National Park, 1987 - Susan J. Wells
  • Archeological Survey at Organ Pipe National Monument, Southwestern Arizona: 1989-1991 - Adrianne G. Rankin
  • Archeological Survey of the Mojave River Area and Adjacent Regions - Gerald A Smith
  • Archeological Survey for the Shivwits Plateau Multiyear Prescribed Burn Project, Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument - Joseph Svinarich
  • Archeological Survey in northeastern Death Valley National Monument - C. Michael Barton
  • Archeological Survey in the Eastern Tucson Basin - Kay Simpson and Susan J. Wells
  • Archeological Survey of Lower Vine Ranch, Death Valley National Monument - Krista Deal, Lynne D'Ascenzo
  • Archeological Survey of Newly Acquired Lands in Saguaro National Park: 1996, 1997 and 1998 - Loy C. Neff, Stacie A. Reutter, Dawn A. Frost
  • Archeological Survey of Proposed Prescribed Burn Units and Trail Rehabilitation on the Shivwits Plateau of Parashant National Monument, Arizona - Mary Robertson, Art MacWilliams
  • Archeological Survey of Saguaro National Monument, 1994: The Saguaro Land Acquisition and Trails Inventory - Kevin D. Wellman
  • Archeological Survey of the Ajo Crest Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Southwestern Arizona - Michael G. Mallouf
  • Archeological Survey of the Twenty Nine Palms Region - Elizabeth W Crozer Campbell
  • Archeology of Faraway Ranch, Arizona - Mark F. Baumler
  • Archeology of Gila Cliff Dwellings - Keith M. Anderson, Gloria J. Fenner, Don P. Morris, George A. Teague, Charmion McKusick
  • Archeology of Mitchell Caverns - Diana G Pinto
  • Archeology of Pleistocene Lake Mohave - Elizabeth W. Crozer Campbell, William H. Campbell, Ernst Antevs, Charles Avery Amsden, Joseph A. Barbieri, Francis D. Dode
  • Archeology of Sivu'ovi - Jeffery F. Burton
  • Archeology of the Death Valley Salt Pan, California - Alice Hunt
  • Arches of the Alabama Hills - Orlyn Fordham
  • Arches of the Escalante Canyons and Kaiparowits Plateau - Jens Munthe
  • Arizona's Ho'ok Geoglyph - Phil G. Garn
  • Arizona's Rock Art - Robin Scott Bicknell
  • Assessment of the Imperial Sand Dunes as a Native American Cultural Landscape - John C. Russell, Clyde M. Woods, Jackson Underwood
  • Around Trona and Searles Valley - James L Fairchild, Russell L. Kaldenberg
  • Atlas of The North American Indian - Carl Waldman
  • Aurora, Nevada - Alan Patera

B

C

  • Cache of Unfired Clay Objects from Death Valley, California - William Wallace
  • Cahuilla and the Santa Rosa Mountain Region: Places and their Native American Association - Lowell John Bean, Sylvia Brakke Vane, Jackson Young
  • Cahuilla Indians of Southern California - Lowell Bean and Harry Lawton
  • Cairn Burials of the California Deserts - Philip J. Wilk
  • Calaveras County Illustrated and Described, 1885 - Charles Clough
  • Calaveras County Mining, Logging and Railroading 1848-Present - Ronald H Limbaugh, Williard P Fuller Jr
  • Calaveras Gold: The Impact Of Mining On A Mother Lode County - Ronald H. Limbaugh, Willard P. Fuller
  • California - Nevada Ghost Town Atlas - Robert Neil Johnson
  • California Coastal Access Guide - California Coastal Commission
  • California Ghost Town Trails - Mickey Broman, Russ Leadabrand
  • California Indians and Their Environment: An Introduction - Kent G. Lightfoot, Otis Parrish
  • California Mountain Wildflowers - Philip A. Munz
  • California's Fourteeners: A Hiking and Climbing Guide - Stephen S. Porcella, Cameron N. Burns
  • Can Chronology - Jim Rock
  • Canyon de Chelly: Its People and Rock Art - Campbell Grant
  • Canyon del Muerto Survey Project - Patricia L. Fall, James A. McDonald, Pamela C. Magers
  • Canyon Country: Prehistoric Rock Art - Fran Barnes
  • Canyon Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau - Michael Kelsey
  • Canyonlands National Park Favorite Jeep Roads & Hiking Trails - David Day
  • Carrara and the Mining Camps of Bare Mountain - Alan Patera
  • Cartago, My Cartago - George Pipkin
  • Cave Minerals of the World - Carol Hill, Paolo Forti
  • Cave Paintings Of Baja California: Discovering the Great Murals of an Unknown People - Harry W. Crosby
  • Caves of California - William R Halliday
  • California Division of Mines and Geology, all long out of print:
    • 45 Bulletins
    • 9 County Reports
    • 44 Special Reports
    • And many misc. reports, registers, and maps
  • California Journal of Mines and Geology, long out of print:
    • 56 journals. Almost the whole series.
  • Cerro Gordo A Ghost Town Caught Between Centuries - Cecile Page Vargo
  • Chemehuevi Indians of Southern California - Ron Miller
  • Civilian Conservation Corps in Nevada: From Boys To Men - Renee Corona Kolvet, Victoria Ford
  • Cliff Dwellings Speak - Beth Sagstetter, Bill Sagstetter
  • Climbing California's Fourteeners: 183 Routes to the Fifteen Highest Peaks - Stephen Porcella, Steven F. Porcella, Cameron M. Burns
  • Colorado Desert Prehistory – Alan Garfinkel Gold, Ph.D., R.P.A.
  • Colorado Desert Wildflowers: A Guide to Flowering Plants of the Low Desert - Jon Mark Stewart
  • Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps - Sandra Dallas
  • Colorado Wilderness Inventory, Intensive Wilderness Inventory, Final Wilderness Study Areas
  • Colorful Desert Wildflowers: California and Arizona - Grace B Ward
  • Comparison of Two Sites Found in the Palen-McCoy Wilderness - Martín R. Jespersen and Mary G. Jespersen, George Kline
  • Concise History of Mine Hoisting: From its earliest beginnings through Winfield Scott Stratton's Independence Hoist - Paul Mogensen
  • Contributions to the Archeology of Petrified Forest National Park, 1985-1986 - Anne Trinkle Jones
  • Coso Rock Art: A New Perspective - Elva Younkin
  • Coso Style Pictographs of the Southern Sierra Nevada - Alan P. Garfinkel
  • Cowboys and Cave Dwellers: Basketmaker Archaeology in Utah's Grand Gulch - Fred M. Blackburn, Ray A. Williamson
  • Cross Section of Grand Canyon Archeology: Excavations at Five Sites Along the Colorado River - Anne Trinkle Jones
  • Cultural Resource Management Plan for the Fossil Falls/Little Lake Locality - Alan P. Garfinkel
  • Cultural Resource Overview for the Amargosa - Mojave Basin Planning Units - Claude N Warren, Martha Knack, Elizabeth von Till Warren
  • Cultural Resource Overview of the Colorado Desert Planning Units - Elizabeth von Till Warren, Robert H. Crabtree, Claude N. Warren, Martha Knack and Richard Me Carty
  • Cultural Resource Overview of the Eureka, Saline, Panamint and Darwin Region, East Central, California - Richard H. Norwood, Charles S. Bull, Ronald Quinn
  • Cultural Resources Inventory of the Central Mojave and Colorado Desert Regions, California - Dennis Gallegos. John Cook, Emma Lou Davis, Gary Lowe, Frank Norris, Jay Thesken
  • Cultural Resources Investigations in the Mojave River Forks Reservoir, San Bernardino County, California - Jeffrey H. Altschul, Martin R. Rose, Michael K. Lerch
  • Cultural Resources of the California Desert 1776-1980, Historic Trails and Wagon Roads - Elizabeth von Till Warren, Ralph J Roske
  • Cultural Resources of the Santa Rita Experimental Range - John H. Madsen
  • Cultural Resources of the Tucson Mountain District, Saguaro National Park - Susan J. Wells, Stacie A. Reutter
  • Cultural Resources Overview: Northwestern California - Jerome H. King,
    William R. Hildebrandt, Sharon A. Waechter
  • Culture Crisis and Rock Art Intensification: Numic Ghost Dance Paintings and Coso Representational Petroglyphs - Alan P. Garfinkel, Geron Marcom, and Robert A. Schiffman
  • Culture Resource Overview of the Bureau of Land Management Coleville, Bodie, Benton, and Owens Valley Planning Units - Colin I. Busby, John M. Findlay, James C. Bard

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

  • Kelso Conference Papers, 1987-1992 - G. Dicken Everson (Editor), Joan S. Schneider (Editor)

L

M

N

O

  • Oaks of California - Bruce M. Pavlik, Pamela Muick, Sharon Johnson
  • Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries Bulletins
  • Old Heart of Nevada - Shawn Hall
  • Old Mines of Southern California - California State Mineralogist
  • Old Ores, Mining History in the Eastern Mojave Desert - Robert E Reynolds
  • Old-Timers of Southeastern California - Lester Reed
  • On Rope: North American Vertical Rope Techniques for Caving - Bruce Smith, Allen Padgett
  • On Station - George R. Dasher
  • One Hundred Desert Wildflowers of the Southwest - Janice E. Bowers
  • One Hundred Years of History in the California Desert, An Overview of Historic Archeological Resources at Joshua Tree National Monument - Patricia Parker
  • Out from Las Vegas - Florine Lawlor, Andy Zdon
  • Out Where the Living is Good: Subsistence Activities on the Landscape of Joshua Tree National Monument - Claude N. Warren, Joan S. Schneider
  • Overview and Assessment of Middle Verde Valley Archeology - Robert P. Powers, Nancy E. Pearson
  • Overview of the Cultural Resources of the Western Mojave Desert - E. Cary Stickel, Lois J. Weinman - Roberts

P

  • Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly Volumes, a few
  • Pacific Crest Trail Vol 1: California - Ben Schifrin, Thomas Winnett, Ruby Johnson Jenkins
  • Pacific Northwest Mining Camps - Alan Patera
  • Pahranagat Man, Nevada's Mysterious Anthropomorph - P. B Clabaugh, R. A. Clabaugh
  • Palen Solar Electric Generating System, Ethnographic Report Informing the Final Staff Assessment - Matthew Braun, M.A, Thomas Gates, Ph.D.
  • Palen Solar Project: Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
  • Palmetto, Sylvania and Tule Canyon, Nevada - Alan Patera
  • Panamint Breeze, 73 issues
  • Papers on California Archaeology, a few
  • People of the Desert, Canyons and Pines: Prehistory of the Patayan Country in West Central Arizona - Connie L. Stone
  • Patterns of Lithic Use at AZ Q:1:42, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona - Anne Trinkle Jones
  • Petrified Forest National Park Boundary Survey, 1988: The Final Season - Susan J. Wells
  • Petroglyphs and Pueblo Myths of the Rio Grande - Carol Patterson Rudolph
  • Petroglyphs, Grinding Slicks, and Cuples of the Rock Island Complex: U:8:392/862 - Chris Loendorf, David Jacobs, Glen E. Rice
  • Petroglyphs of Atlatl Ridge, Tortolita Mountains, Pima County, Arizona - Henry D. Wallace
  • Petroglyphs of Sacramento and Adjoining Counties, California - L, Arthur Payen
  • Photographer's Guide to Death Valley - Shellye Poster
  • Photographing the Southwest: Volume 1--Southern Utah - Laurent Martres
  • Photographing the Southwest: Volume 2--Arizona - Laurent Martres
  • Photographing the Southwest: Volume 3--Colorado/New Mexico - Laurent Martres
  • Pictographs of the Coso Region - Robert A. Schiffman, David S. Whitley, Alan P. Garfinkel, Stephen B. Andrews
  • Pictographs of the San Luis Rey Basin, California - D. L. True
  • Pincnut Site: Virgin Anasazi Archaeology on the Kanab Plateau of Northwestern Arizona - Deborah A. Westfall
  • Piñon Gathering among the Panamint Indians - B. H. Dutcher
  • Pinto Basin Site: An Ancient Aboriginal Camping Ground in the California Desert - Elizabeth W. Crozer Campbell, William H. Campbell
  • Pioneers of Mono Basin - Margaret Calhoun
  • Piute Creek Archeological Survey and Site Documentation, Mojave National Preserve, California - Meredith A. Wilson
  • Place Names of the Sierra Nevada - Peter Browning
  • Plants of the East Mojave: Mojave National Preserve - Adrienne Knute
  • Point Reyes - Phil Arnot
  • Prehistoric Land-Use at McCoy Spring - Daniel McCarthy
  • Prehistoric Cultural Development in the Southern Californian Deserts - William J. Wallace
  • Prehistoric Equinox Markers of the California Deserts . . . a Null Set? - Don Laylander
  • Prehistoric Rock Art Associations with Water Sources and Wetlands and Implications for Land Use - Linda A. Reynolds
  • Prehistoric Rock Art of California - Robert F. Heizer, C. W. Clewlow Jr
  • Prehistoric trails in the Colorado Desert: a review of Archaeological Research - Don Laylander
  • Prehistory and History of the Death Valley Region's Native Americans - Kenneth E. Lengner
  • Prehistory and Management of Cultural Resources in the Red Mountain Area - Russell L. Kaldenberg
  • Prehistory of Black Canyon - Charley Howe
  • Prehistory of Kern County - Robert A. Schiffman, Alan P. Garfinkel
  • Preliminary Investigations into a Southern California Summer Solstice Site - Bernard M. Jones Jr.
  • Preserving the Glory Days: Ghost Towns And Mining Camps Of Nye County, Nevada - Shawn Hall
  • Projectile Point Petroglyphs of the Coso Range: Chronology and Function - Alan P. Garfinkel and J. Kenneth Pringle
  • Pueblo Period Archeology at Four Sites, Petrified Forest National Park - Anne Trinkle Jones
  • Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest - Arthur H. Rohn, William M. Ferguson
  • Puerco Ruin 2005 Stabilization Project, Petrified Forest National Park - Ronald J. Beckwith

R

S

T

U

  • Understanding the Rock Art of Sedona - Kenneth J. Zoll
  • UC Anthropological Publications, many papers, and reports
  • US Bureau of Mines, long out of print
    • Hundreds of Mineral Investigation Reports, War Mineral Reports, and other misc reports
  • US Geological Survey
    • 447 Bulletins
    • 131 Misc Field Studies
    • 68 Open Files Reports
    • 116 Professional Papers
    • 26 Water Supply Papers

W

Y

  • Yanawant: Paiute Places and Landscapes in the Arizona Strip - Richard W. Stoffle, Kathleen Van Vlack, Alex K. Carroll, Fletcher Chmara-Huff, Aja Martinez
  • Yuba Trails - Susan Lamela, Hank Meals
  • Yuba Trails 2 - Hank Meals

Please let me know if you have a suggestion for a book I don’t have that I should read and include in my library. Thanks!

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