FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Obi Kaufmann Explores a New Environmental Ethic in California Inside Out: Mapping an Ecology of Mind
In a provocative new work blending manifesto, philosophy, and ecological inquiry, the bestselling California Field Atlas series creator challenges readers to reimagine humanity’s relationship with the living world.
BERKELEY, CALIF. — This fall, award-winning creator of the California Field Atlas series, Obi Kaufmann, publishes his most probing and philosophical book to date: California Inside Out: Mapping an Ecology of Mind (on-sale: October 6, 2026). With this compact, pocket-sized volume, the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times bestselling author recenters radical kinship with the more-than-human world, advancing an environmental worldview rooted in the recognition of nature’s agency and humanity’s inseparable relationship to place.
Part manifesto, part lyrical meditation, California Inside Out interrogates the stories that estrange people from the living systems that surround them and searches for new language capable of restoring that connection. Kaufmann challenges the assumptions that promote extractive thinking and sets out to tell another story; one aimed at helping Californians leave the state at the close of the 21st century healthier, more resilient, and more ecologically whole than it was at the century’s start.
Deriving inspiration from Traditional Ecological Knowledge, the lessons of deep time, and the blueprints of renowned naturalists including Aldo Leopold, Gary Snyder, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, Kaufmann sketches the contours of an emergent conservation ethic for the 22nd century. Rejecting the inherited “man versus nature” model, he proposes creative frameworks for realizing equity and mutuality between humans and the wider living world.
Kaufmann’s approach is deeply Socratic, inviting readers to consider provocative questions: What if wildfire were revered rather than reviled? What if humans respected the creative capacity of other species? What if watersheds have volition and rivers were accorded legal rights? At the heart of California Inside Out is a quest to find the new premises—or long-forgotten verities—that may reveal enough intrinsic value in nonhuman entities to inspire people to retrieve their responsibility as stewards of the systems upon which all life depends.
For the notion that wilderness exists separate from human development is ahistorical, Kaufmann reminds us. “The structural makeup of habitat spaces is largely the product of a consistent, multimillennia-long project of human stewardship,” he observes, invoking Indigenous traditions and technologies that have shaped the American West for thousands of years. Everything from faunal biogeography to soil fecundity has been shaped by human hands, human history, and increasingly, human policy: “California’s landscape is an ecological artifact of human activity.”
With California Inside Out, Kaufmann challenges readers to consider what kind of landscape will emerge from continuing along with a now centuries-long protocol of human activity that is driven primarily by extraction and capital utility—and appeals to the reader to ensure that another story, a better story, prevails.
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Praise for Obi Kaufmann
“Obi Kaufmann’s books are like bibles to me. They explain California’s natural beauty better than anything I’ve read before.” —DAVE EGGERS
“A full immersion into the astonishingly varied natural worlds. Gorgeous.” —CBS SAN FRANCISCO
“Kaufmann’s writing and illustrations comprise a deeply researched philosophical exploration focused not just on the current moment but on refashioning understanding and California’s ecosystems to support thriving generations to come.” —HIGH COUNTRY NEWS
“Swirls research with poetry, the personal and human with the collective and ecological.” —MOTHER JONES
“Obi leaves no leaf unturned in his quest to capture the wonder and fragility.” —SUNSET
“A call to action … full of beautiful watercolor renderings of both landscape and data.” —LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Kaufmann’s gaze easily ranges from the micro to the macro. As a reader you are invited to join him on a journey of discovery—not as a passenger but as an active partner.”—SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
“Surprising in its depth and complexity. And as captured by a diligent and experienced observer, unbelievably beautiful as well.” —THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
“An original contribution to the genre … Immersive.” —LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS
“Put together in an accessible, visual way, Kaufmann’s approach helps to encourage a love of place, which is often the first step toward wanting to protect and preserve it.” —AMERICAN SCIENTIST
“Kaufmann’s knowledge of and respect for these myriad forms of life cannot help but spark one’s own spirit of inquiry and adventure.” —RED CANARY
“Kaufmann is brilliant, articulate and engaging, providing hope for the state’s future.” —TAHOE LITERARY GUIDE
“An expansive and accessible exploration of the biodiversity that defines California in the global imagination.”—7×7
“Thoughtfully written and gorgeously illustrated. A reason for hope. A reason for awe.” —THE DESERT SUN
“Kaufmann’s expressive writing is matched by his creativity as an artist.” —SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
“A revelation. Kaufmann educates and delights the reader simultaneously.” —ENTROPY
“Masterful … Every page is a treasure trove of information and beauty.” —SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW
“Breathtaking.” —BERKELEYSIDE
“Transcend[s] the genre of nature writing.” —MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY
“Obi wants to inspire us to be optimistic, not fatalistic about the world we find ourselves in. Stories of recovery are all around us if we open our eyes. He believes we can, indeed, reverse course and save what we have inherited.” —ECONEWS
“The author meditates on how California can survive—and thrive—beyond the current climate crisis.” —DIABLO MAGAZINE
Art from California Inside Out by Obi Kaufmann (c)
Obi Kaufmann is the author of The California Field Atlas (#1 San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller), The State of Water, The Forests of California, The Coasts of California (San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller), The Deserts of California (San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller), and The State of Fire (Los Angeles Times Bestseller). When he is not backpacking, you can find the painter-poet at home in the East Bay, posting trail paintings at his handle @coyotethunder on Instagram. His speaking tour dates are available at californiafieldatlas.com, and his essays are posted at coyoteandthunder.com.
