National Geographic Guide to National Parks of the United States by National Geographic Society

National Geographic Guide to National Parks of the United States Reviews

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  Ivana Books Are Magic

  It's been a while since I reviewed a non-fiction book, so this will be fun. This book is certainly an excellent guide to national parks of USA. It is packed with useful information and a lovely selection of photographs. Its pocket size, so don't expect too much from these NG photographs, they're quite small- and so is the writing, which strains the eyes a bit. I think this one is meant to be more of a reference book and that's how it works. The printing is great, though. I imagine this book would hold well over the years. I didn't buy it, I just read a copy from the library. The study of parks is obviously short but the writing is descriptive enough to get you a feeling of them. It is well written and interesting book about US national parks. I don't plan to buy it, as it is not the kind of book I could use. I might buy a National Geographic book eventually, but it won't be a small size one.
  
  I always say that national parks are the first thing I'd like to see if I ever visit the United States. So, while we were in the library my husband pointed out that I would enjoy a book like this one. I sure did. As I said, it's a great reference book. One of the things I liked is that the information presented is incredibly specific. For example, the foliage in X park is best in X month. Y park offers the most in Y period. You might want to stay more than just a few hours in X park and so on. On the other hand, a few more personal sentences wouldn't hurt. I like how informative the writing was, but it would be great to read a more personal account of these parks, even if it was a single sentence. There are so many of them, after all. It is easy to get lost in all that information. A bit more of history would be welcome. An anecdote or to would have been appreciated. They could have included recommendations from real visitors. I think that would have given the book a more 'real' feel. I understand the editors didn't have a lot of space, but little 'personal' details could have made a lot of difference. Nevertheless, it is a great book. I imagine it would be most useful to someone actually living in USA because they would have the best options of visiting all these parks all year round, but it is also a good reference for travellers, especially those who are nature lovers.
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  Kimba Tichenor

  Organized by geographic region, this book provides an excellent overview of the history of the 59 US national parks, including those in the Virgin Islands and America Samoa. It also has excellent descriptions of the flora and fauna of each park, as well as detailed descriptions of points of interests and popular trails, including levels of difficulty.
  
  However, if you are looking for a book that provides helpful tips about camping and lodging, this is not the book for you. The information given is at best cursory. It does not explain what the different campsites offer: e.g. Access to electricity? Any handicap accessible sites? Access to water? Are there bathroom facilities, if so, what type? Which ones are accessible to RV campers? Which ones to tent campers? Are shower facilities in the vicinity? Does use of shower facilities cost extra? etc. If there are multiple non-camping lodgings on site (as is the case with some parks) what are the draws of one option over another? Although it does. include links (web addresses) where you can get additional information, some of these web sites are not very user friendly. Thus, while it offers a good introduction to the national park system, it is of limited use for someone planning a trip to one of these nations parks.
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  John

  As a guide of our 59 national parks, I don't think this book was intended to be read from cover to cover. But I did just that, and quite enjoyed it, too. Even with over 300 pages the book is too short to include extensive details for any of the parks, but I think the coverage it does offer is an excellent overview of what the national parks have to offer.
  
  A little background: until just a few years ago I was ignorant of the national park system beyond a general understanding that it included Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and a few other place I had visited. Now I'm a big fan and I make it a point to visit new NPS sites every year. The turning point for me was in 2013. We had a long road trip and decided to stop at Mesa Verde - a place I had heard about but didn't know as a National Park. On the way there we saw a sign for Aztec Ruins National Monument at just the right time for a bathroom break, so we stopped and checked it out. I really enjoyed walking through the ruins there and then exploring the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde the next day, and my fascination with the national parks took root.
  
  One thing I learned from this book is that not all national parks interest me equally. The parks that I'd most like to visit next are all in the west. (I did really enjoy visiting the Great Smoky Mountains and Mammoth Cave in 2015, though, so I won't say the east part of the country is devoid of any parks that interest me.) It was also news to me that some of our 59 national parks do not have much in the way of a developed infrastructure and would be very difficult to experience with a family of small children. I know this probably adds to the appeal for some but it lessens it for me - I enjoy the national parks mostly because of the memories I create there with family. Despite these facts, there is still a long list of National Parks I'd love to visit or revisit.
  
  Now if only I could find a similar guide to all the National Monuments.
  
  
  
  
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  Danielle Mintzlaff

  I want to go to all the parks.
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  Lori L (She Treads Softly)

  The 9th edition of National Geographic Guide to National Parks of the United States presents the parks in the Table of Contents by region: East, Midwest, South Central, Southwest, Rocky Mountains, Pacific Northwest, and Alaska. This is followed by a section on using the guide, and after that is a map of the USA with the regions and parks marked. The guide has an index for quick referencing too and there is a map key located in the back of the book after the index. Each regional introduction includes a map of the whole region followed by the individual parks, which are presented in alphabetical order within the regions. Then there are individual maps of each park. Each of the park entries contains a description of the park. There is an information section for each park that offers details on finding the park, best times to visit, entrance fees, the location of the visitors center (a great source for brochures or information is also online), park headquarters, and information on where to stay, campgrounds or lodging. There are phone numbers, addresses, and website addresses provided. Each entry is followed by six suggestions for nearby excursions. After each region section is a wonderful Hit the Road section which helps with planning on visiting more than one park on your trip because many are in close proximity to each other. Also there are notes on special advisories that you need to keep in mind when visiting parks, such as stay away from wild animals, expect RV detours, and, especially important, know that cell phone service may be limited or not available, so don't expect to rely on your cell phone.
  
  Naturally the photographs are spectacular because this is a National Geographic guide. Furthermore, there is so much great information provided in the guide that is essential to planning any trip to a national park.
  
  Disclosure: I received a review copy of these guides from National Geographic for TLC Book Tours.
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  Sara Strand

  I really liked this one! It's well organized, it has a lot of information about each park, including information about campgrounds and lodging- that's perfect! I also really liked that Alaska is its own section, I'm not sure how you'd even break Alaska down, it is worthy of an entire section. The maps are incredibly helpful, and detailed, a multitude of websites to look for additional information (if you need it), and of course, amazing photos. I absolutely loved this.
  
  Thank you to TLC Book Tours and NatGeo for having me on this tour.
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  Kim Childress

  My husband and I used this as a travel guide when we drove our pop-up camper across the US for 30 days, from park to park. Highly recommend for lovers of outdoors, parks, and photography!
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  Lori

  A good starting point for planning any trip to the National Parks, or a miniature coffee table book. National Geographic's edge is always in the photography, so smaller or lesser known parks receive a good boost. That's with the exception of the park of American Samoa. It's clearly an afterthought. After all, who'll bother going to American Samoa? (My cousin and her family and anyone in Hawaii, that's who.)
  
  The parks are listed alphabetically by region, though I wonder as to the value of some of these regions. Example: the Colorado Plateau encompasses a goodly number of parks, however it splits the standard Southwest region by placing all of ARizona in the Colorado Plateau. Only New Mexico and Texas comprise the Southwest. Clearly, the editor was ok with employing nonstandard definitions. The only perceived benefit, is that the Colorado Plateau parks could conceivably be toured in a single (though looong) road trip.
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  Daniel Currie

  This took me 2 years to read, but that isn't all bad. It really was like a mini-vacation each time I picked it up and read about 1 or 2 parks.
  
  This certainly is not nor is it meant to be a guide you would take to a visit to any park, but it does give you a good overview of each park in the system. You have to do a lot more research before going to any of them, but this guide is great for maybe deciding which that should be, or you could use it for a mini-vacation. :)
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  William Schram

  The United States of America is a beautiful country with diverse biomes and majestic vistas. So far, the only National Park I have been to is the Grand Canyon National Park located in Arizona. If I had the chance, there are many other places I would love to visit.
  
  In this book, National Geographic brings wonderful photos, itineraries, maps, and more. I have the Seventh Edition, so I don't know if there is a more up-to-date version.
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  Mel

  we are currently obsessed with planning our cross country trip hence my obsession with national parks. (yes, i am an unemployed dork.) reading about all the rugged outddors we want to explore just might be enough to get me off my ass and into shape by the time we do this trip next year. i'll keep you posted...
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  Marion

  I love this book! The pictures are phenomenal and they make me want to visit every national park listed in here. I appreciate the way the information is organized as it gives the reader a good sense of the park with sample itineraries. I got this book at the library and it's one that I'm going to want to buy and keep on my shelf because it's full of great information!
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  Kayla

  This is a great book for anyone who loves to travel to National Parks and would like to read some quick information about them. A quick and fun read and a nice reference guide when planning my next adventure.
  
  The edition does need to be updated, some of the national monuments have since become national parks.
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  Kaylin

  This was in part a gift to the hubby for our anniversary as we both love to travel, hike, and explore - especially our National Parks! This book is a great go-to guide filled with excellent info and photographs. Great for getting you started on trip planning and inspiring you to take new ones!
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  Jessi Collier Wakefield

  I want to visit every one of these places. Every.single.one.
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  Meg

  One of the best national park guides I've read. I wish it had more pictures though. Good info about how to get there as some parks are only accessible by boat or plane.
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  Juddle

  Excellent resource guide! Handy travel size and contains a lot of great information; historical info, maps, travel insights, visiting guide, and beautiful pictures!
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  Stephen Chase

  I love this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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  Laura George

  Great book! Very helpful when traveling to a park. It's also very inspiring- now I want to go to all of them!
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  Anna✨

  I didn’t actually read this and it’s a stand in for another National Geographic magazine, History-The Mystery of Dephi. Anything to reach my goodreads goal, including fraud, will be committed in order to succeed. Yes I am a Ravenclaw.
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  Erik

  Great guide to all of the parks. Each gets about 5-10 pages so it's not fully comprehensive, but makes a perfect starting point for planning a trip to any of the parks. Several additional locations near each park are included as well, though those only get a couple sentence mention.
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  Yvonne

  A good start for anyone who wants to have some (but not too much) general knowledge of all the National Parks in the USA. The e-book edition has links in the texts to make it easier to explore some more. I expected to see more photographs of the interesting places in the parks. I guess the book would need the double amount of pages to include those. Oh well, why not go out and make them yourself... I've visited many NP's but see there's a lot of traveling left to be able to say I visited them all, especially those in Alaska.
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  Rachel

  Beautiful book. While only giving very brief descriptions about the parks (4-6 pages each), it really packs in a lot of information and definitely gets the ball rolling for planning a trip to one of them. I had no idea there were 57 national parks to see. I've only been to one in my life! Happy to have #2 on the list for this year.
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  Christa

  This book was my salvation while on a four-month, cross-country roadtrip during which I hit 20 national parks! I loved being able to read through each park's entry before visiting, getting a feel for the highlights before conferring with the rangers. The book is heavy, but it's beautifully designed. A must-have for the national park aficionado.
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  Don Heiman

  In 2016 National Geographic published an 8th edition of their “Guide to National Parks of the United States.” This edition contains updated texts, maps and amazing photographs. This is a wonderful book, easy to read, and loaded with great information about park features, travel maps, and lodging options. The travel guide index is very helpful. (P)
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  Sharon

  I can't wait to visit every National Park and am ready to go with this book in hand. Nothing better than to have a description of the best trails, roads and things to do when planning your trip. Must read if you like the outdoors and interested in going to even just one of the parks!