March 9, 2008

This is wildflower season, one of two times of the year we tend to think about Anza-Borrego Desert State Park – the other being, of course, when it's 112 degrees.

BOOK REVIEW Anza-Borrego: A Photographic Journey Ernie Cowan; Sunbelt Publications, 80 pages, $19.95

The flowers are indeed spectacular, but – don't tell anybody, now – Anza-Borrego is also worth visiting when it's 112 degrees, as long as you're careful and you half (make that four-fifths) know what you're doing.

Ernie Cowan's book of photos makes a fine, abbreviated primer on park flora, fauna and geology. “Anza-Borrego: A Photographic Journey” doesn't try to be comprehensive, but it's informed, attractive and, at $19.95 and measuring just 9-inches-by-10, handy and affordable. It belongs not on your coffee table, but in the back seat of your car, along with topo maps, guide books from the visitor's center and a couple of extra water bottles. Full water bottles.

– ARTHUR SALM

 »Next Story»