Local book review: Wilderness & Wonder: An Illustrated Guide to the National Parks

Maybe it’s embarrassing to admit, but before last week I had never read a coffee table book cover to cover. I didn’t think that's what they were meant for.

"Wilderness & Wonder: An Illustrated Guide to the National Parks" by Kenneth Crane (photographer/illustrator), Ren Brabenec (writer) and Joel Anderson (creative director) has single handedly changed that perception.

The three headed monster behind this book created a masterpiece that certainly will start conversations if it is sitting on your coffee table at home, but truly rewards a cover to cover read.

The mission statement of the book comes early on page 5 where Brabenec writes, “We hope that Kenneth Crane’s images will stir a sense of wonder in your soul, while Ren’s short descriptions will stoke your curiosity.”

If this was the plan, boy do they deliver.

A mixture of illustration, photograph, and historical images keep each page interesting. Many parks also had fun diagrams that aimed to teach even more. For example, on the page about Cuyahoga Valley National Park you learn the differences between an American Mink and a River Otter through an illustrated diagram. 

"A mixture of illustration, photograph and historical images keep each page interesting," Mac Kelley writes in his review of Kingston Springs' author Ren Brabenec's new book "Wilderness & Wonder: An Illustrated Guide to the National Parks." / Mac Kelley

In terms of overall format, the book starts with a brief history of the national parks. An illustrated map of the United States follows, with each park numbered 1-63 alphabetically. After the map, each park receives a full page illustration with a short description attached and one to three pages following the illustration giving information about everything from trail lengths to legends surrounding the parks.  

The way the parks are numbered was my biggest qualm with the book.

While reading this book, I traveled to visit friends in Colorado. In my days traveling, the book was always in hand, and my hosts wanted to take a look. It was a great conversation starter, and person after person flipped straight to the map to see which parks they had visited. The alphabetical sorting of the parks worked for some people, but I would have preferred grouping by state, or west to east perhaps. I found myself frequently flipping back and forth between the park pages and the map; sometimes having a hard time locating all the parks I had visited. The benefit of this was frequently landing on a park I didn’t know.   

Crane’s illustrations feel like a distillation of the parks’ auras and beauty. They have a transportive nature about them. They feel straight off of the wall of an art gallery, but also down to earth enough that I would happily hang them in my living room. The colors are vivid and consistent throughout the page making each turn feel like a step straight into the vibrant colors of the parks themselves. 

This book is exactly what it set out to be.

It is not a guide book to throw in your backpack once the trip is booked, but it will certainly inspire you to go check out the parks that the authors clearly love so dearly. I know I’m already planning my trip to Sequoia. 

Learn more about Kingston Springs local and author of "Wilderness & Wonder: An Illustrated Guide to the National Parks" Ren Brabenec here.