San Francisco: A Natural History

Reading this book was like pulling a well-loved but worn teddy out of the chest. I recalled hiking the city's hills, creeks and dunes in the fifties, flying kites up on Bernal Heights and sliding down Twin Peaks on cardboard. ...and thought about what's been lost. If that was the sum, it would be an interesting read. Gaar and Miller took it beyond a catalog of losses to present successes and achievable steps for preservation and restoration. The city has taken a beating, being filled, leveled, dredged, paved and infested with non-native species--thanks to our own manifest destiny. San Francisco: A Natural History makes a strong case for embracing what was ours while sharing our city's natural landscape, past and present, in word and image.