In no particular order:
Two Peoples, One Place by historians Freeman House and Ray Raphael provides the best introduction to early Humboldt County history, to about 1885. It's just out in a very nice paperback edition, and we have copies signed by both authors. $19.95
Grave Matters: Excavating California's Buried Past by Tony Platt, an important look at the troubling practice plundering Native American gravesites. A powerful and significant book. A few signed copies remain. $18.95
Plastic Ocean: How a Sea Captain's Chance Discovery Launched a Determined Quest to Save the Oceans by Capt. Charles Moore and former Humboldt resident Cassandra Phillips. This is the first-hand story of the discovery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, co-written by a former HSU staffer.\
Redwood Saw by Richard Rothman. Self described as the Franz Kafka of landscape photography, Rothman's portrait of life in Del Norte County, combines images of redwoods, portraits of working class people, and unexpected nudes. The title suggests images of logging, but Redwood Saw refers to the name of a run-down looking shop in a dismal stripmall. This book is not for everyone, but it hangs together as a single artistic statement in a way no other photobook on the North Coast ever has. Limited to just 1500 copies and not available online. $65
Humboldt Heartland by Andy Westfall. Two photobooks about the Redwood Coast could not be more different than Humboldt Heartland and Redwood Saw. Andy Westfall spent years photographing the ranchers of Humboldt County and this book is a stunningly beautiful portrait of rural life in some of the most remote landscapes of California. Andy tells us that fewer than 100 copies remain and it probably will not be reprinted. If the $75 price deters you, I'm reasonably confident that the price will only go up once it's out of print.
Fup by Jim Dodge. A worldwide phenomenon, that still sells well across the globe after nearly three decades, this charming, magical tale is back in a new edition. Everyone with a love of literature or a sense of humor should have a copy. At $9.95 for a signed copy, you'd be crazy not to pick one up.
The Pacific Crest Trailside Readers (two volumes, available separately, for California and Oregon & Washington). Local authors Rees Hughes and Corey Lee Lewis edited this anthology of writing about the wilderness trail that snakes from Mexico to Canada. Local artist Amy Uyeki provided the woodblock illustrations.
Kinetic Sculpture Racing by Duane Flatmo. The perfect stocking stuffer—the commemorative booklet put out by local artist extraordinaire Duane Flatmo to celebrate his 30th year participating in Humboldt's kookiest event. Signed copies, while they last, are $7.95
California Indian Languages by Victor Golla. It's rare that a scholar's life's work is condensed into a single book, and if you think of it that way, the $90 price tag does not seem that extravagent. In case you might mistake this for a dense linguistics tome, it is actually quite accessible and contains a tremendous amount of local history unavailable in any other book.
Son of Field Notes by Barry Evans. Our local scientist for the masses collects more of his essays on science from the North Coast Journal.
