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Books by Eric Pinder
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Weather folklore, bear stories (my patented first rule of outdoor writing: “when in doubt, use a bear”) and anecdotes from the Appalachian Trail fill the pages of these books. Get an insider’s view of the Mount Washington Observatory, climb Katahdin on a foggy day, watch millions of years unfold through the eyes of the mountain ghost Pamola, and meet eccentric environmentalists such as Percival Baxter and Henry David Thoreau. Click each cover below for more details, reviews, excerpts and a table of contests from each book.
Looking for signed copies? Buy them here or contact the author.
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 AMONG THE CLOUDS
Work, Wit & Wild Weather
at the Mount Washington Observatory
Paperback or eBook, 100 pages, Alpine Books, 2008
New! Take a whirlwind literary field trip to the top of Mount Washington, “The Home of the World’s Worst Weather.” Discover what a meteorologist’s typical day is like in the sometimes harsh, sometimes spectacular world above timberline. Come meet Nin the Cat, Marty on the Mountain, tobogganing ravens, meandering moose and hapless hikers. These humorous and informative stories about life on a mountaintop are sure to appeal to hikers and weather aficionados alike. Foreword by meteorologist Mish Michaels.Click cover to read more.
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 SHEEP FOOTBALL
(and Other Strange Tales)
Paperback or eBook, 107 pages,
Alpine Books, 2007
Hungry bears chase people down mountains, a new Ice Age destroys a small town and rampaging sheep tackle farmers in this collection of 24 stories and essays (some funny, some tragic) about America’s open spaces and wild places.
Imagine a land where moose outnumber people, where no light pollution obscures the Milky Way and the nearest traffic light is an hour’s drive away. This collection of previously published magazine essays and stories celebrates the rural way of life. Follow a panicky politician as he barnstorms from small town to town during the New Hampshire Primary. Meet a grumpy park ranger who tolerates tourists and executes bears.
Read an excerpt: “Signs of the Times”
Buy paperback or download eBook for only $3.50
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 NORTH TO KATAHDIN
Paperback, 178 pages, Milkweed Editions, 2005
“A descriptive, insightful book that makes us think about our place in nature.”
-David Breashears, director of IMAX film Everest
Why do we like to hike? Why do we walk through the tick-infested woods, risk getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and mooseflies, endure windburn and hypothermia on rugged mountain slopes until our feet ache and our knees throb and our forty-pound packs squeeze our spinal cords like an accordion? Why do we willingly lose brain cells in the headache-inducing thin air of Mount Everest, or go for weeks without a shower along the Appalachian Trail? Why do we do these things, and then go back and do them again and again? North to Katahdin is a nearly 200-page attempt to find an answer.
Read a short nature writing excerpt: “Pamola Peak”
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  TYING DOWN THE WIND
Adventures in the
Worst Weather on Earth
Audiobook, 10 hours on 9 CDs
or 7 cassette tapes, Blackstone, 2002
Hardcover, 280 pages, Tarcher/Putnam, 2000
Where can you find the worst weather on Earth? The surprising answer is: everywhere. You don’t need to climb Mt. Everest or voyage to Antarctica to witness both the beauty and the destructiveness of weather. The same forces are at work in your own backyard. Think of this book as “nature writing about weather.” Enjoy the world’s worst weather in the comfort of your own home as you travel from the Mount Washington Observatory to Tornado Alley to the icy South Pole.
“The book is the product of deep insight. Pinder is a weather observer by trade, but his observations of humanity are equally exacting. He expresses the onset of goosebumps, the pain of snow blindness, the fragrance of a summer day, the rebirth of spring, and other common weather experiences
with uncommon acuity.” -Weatherwise Magazine
Read an exerpt: “Into Deep Slush”
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 LIFE AT THE TOP
Tales, Truths, and Trusted Recipes
from the Mount Washington Observatory
Paperback, 150 pages, Down East Books, 1997
A handful of hardy souls live at the Mount Washington Observatory year-round. The Observatory crew find much to enjoy in their icy home—even with 100-mph winds, wandering moose, and odd questions from visitors (“Who cut down all the trees up here?”). Meet Inga, Jasper and Nin, the Mount Washington cats, observe the “green flash” and find out what it’s like to have hands swollen to the size of baseball mitts due to frostbite. Life at the Top explains the mountain’s geology and wild weather, and includes a section of favorite recipes from the summit crew.
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  BEACONS OF TOMORROW
An Anthology of Science Fiction & Fantasy
240 pages, Tyrannosaurus Press, 2008
CYCLING’S GREATEST MISADVENTURES
254 pages, Casagrande Press, 2007
SOUL OF THE SKY
Exploring the Human Side of Weather
150 pages, MWO, 1999
 These three anthologies include stories and essays by Eric Pinder along with dozens of authors including bicycle-tour leader Heather Andersen, Pulitzer Prize-winner Annie Dillard, science writer Chet Raymo, and Weather Notebook radio host Dave Thurlow.
Click the covers to read more about each book.
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Reviews
Free online reviews of books by Eric Pinder
Bookslut’s review of North to Katahdin.
Nature’s Song:
North to Katahdin
Review of the 10-hour audiobook version of Tying Down the Wind at AudioFile magazine
Also see:
My reviews and musings about favorite nature writing books, from Thoreau to Edward Abbey
Interviews with
Nature Writers
(John McPhee, Barry Lopez and more)
Interviews with Eric Pinder
(NHPR’s The Front Porch and other radio shows)
More good books to read
(an eccentric list ranging
from Chimney Pond Tales to Madame Bovary to The Winds of War)
Anthologies featuring Eric Pinder: Beacons of Tomorrow, Soul of the Sky and Cycling’s Greatest Misadventures
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Buy the books
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Text and photographs © Eric Pinder
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