“What are the best books about Yellowstone National Park?” We looked at 208 of the top Yellowstone books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 22 titles, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Yellowstone” book lists, are ranked below by how many lists they appear on. The remaining 175+ titles, as well as the lists we used are in alphabetical order at the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!

Top 22 Books About Yellowstone

22 .) Best Easy Day Hikes Yellowstone written by Bill Schneider

Lists It Appears On:

• National Parked
• Yellowstone Gift

Yellowstone National Park is one of the great outdoor destinations on the planet, with spectacular vistas, intriguing geology, and abundant and varied wildlife. This updated and revised edition, published in a convenient, pocket-size format, describes 30 of the best day hikes in the park.

21 .) Dangerous Beauty: Encounters with Grizzlies and Bison in Yellowstone written by Carolyn Jourdan

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• National Park Obsessed

Explore one of the world’s most dangerous and bizarre landscapes alongside an extraordinary team of wildlife photographers, scientists, wilderness guides, rangers, and professional trackers. This book contains nearly 100 real-life experiences from a wide variety of experts who share their hard-won wisdom from decades of adventures in the unique landscape of the Yellowstone. You’ll laugh out loud, cringe, and cry at the funny, scary, and touching true stories about unexpectedly encountering angry grizzly bears or stampeding bison, accidentally camping out for a week or two in -70°F temperatures, and much more. Learn from the comic and tragic mistakes of visitors who did all the wrong things when encountering the furry, famous, and ferocious icons of Yellowstone. Find out what it’s like to · confront grizzlies, buffalo, elk, moose, and wolves in the wild · start a snowball fight with a bison · cross a thermal basin in the dark while trying not to fall into a deadly hot spring · get accidentally steamed by a geyser · cower on a bald mountaintop during a lightning storm · struggle to survive a cold, wet night above 10,000’, alone, with a broken femur, hoping to be discovered by rescuers Sandy Sisti is an award-wining wildlife photographer whose Yellowstone imagery is displayed in the Smithsonian. Carolyn Jourdan is a 6-Time Top-10 in the USA Wall Street Journal and Audible best-selling author of wildlife biography and medical memoir.

20 .) Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to Yellowstone written by Douglas W. Smith

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• National Park Obsessed

“In Decade of the Wolf, project leader Douglas W. Smith and acclaimed nature writer Gary Ferguson describe the journey of thirty-one Canadian gray wolves that were released in 1995 and 1996 into Yellowstone National Park and the people who faithfully followed them. With recently updated poignant details about the lives of these animals, including moving stories about survival and family dynamics, Decade of the Wolf serves to mark the end of the opening act of this inspired, often tumultuous tale of preservation. The wolves have not only survived but completely changed the ecosystem, spilling a fresh measure of wildness across the world’s first national park.”

19 .) Deep Into Yellowstone: A Year’s Immersion in Grandeur and Controversy written by Rick Lamplugh

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• National Park Obsessed

Deep Into Yellowstone: A Year’s Immersion in Grandeur and Controversy begins when Rick and his wife Mary trust Yellowstone’s pull and relocate to Gardiner, just outside the park’s north gate. During the year as they cross-country ski, hike, bicycle, canoe, and backpack into Yellowstone’s grandeur, Rick digs into important controversies: the outrage over the proposed removal of grizzlies from the endangered species list; the dispute over hunting park wolves along Yellowstone’s border; the debate about whether wolves help or harm the ecosystem and the economy; the fight to stop the slaughter of park bison; the overuse of the park; and their community’s battle to prevent gold mining on the park’s border. Rick ends the year with a stronger love for Yellowstone’s grandeur, a deeper knowledge of the controversies threatening the park, and a desire to inspire readers to protect our nation’s first national park.

18 .) Engineering Eden: The True Story of a Violent Death, a Trial, and the Fight over Controlling Nature written by Jordan Fisher Smith

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Goodreads

The fascinating story of a trial that opened a window onto the century-long battle to control nature in the national parks. When twenty-five-year-old Harry Walker was killed by a bear in Yellowstone Park in 1972, the civil trial prompted by his death became a proxy for bigger questions about American wilderness management that had been boiling for a century. At immediate issue was whether the Park Service should have done more to keep bears away from humans, but what was revealed as the trial unfolded was just how fruitless our efforts to regulate nature in the parks had always been. The proceedings drew to the witness stand some of the most important figures in twentieth century wilderness management, including the eminent zoologist A. Starker Leopold, who had produced a landmark conservationist document in the 1950s, and all-American twin researchers John and Frank Craighead, who ran groundbreaking bear studies at Yellowstone. Their testimony would help decide whether the government owed the Walker family restitution for Harry’s death, but it would also illuminate decades of patchwork efforts to preserve an idea of nature that had never existed in the first place. In this remarkable excavation of American environmental history, nature writer and former park ranger Jordan Fisher Smith uses Harry Walker’s story to tell the larger narrative of the futile, sometimes fatal, attempts to remake wilderness in the name of preserving it. Tracing a course from the founding of the national parks through the tangled twentieth-century growth of the conservationist movement, Smith gives the lie to the portrayal of national parks as Edenic wonderlands unspoiled until the arrival of Europeans, and shows how virtually every attempt to manage nature in the parks has only created cascading effects that require even more management. Moving across time and between Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Glacier national parks, Engineering Eden shows how efforts at wilderness management have always been undone by one fundamental problem–that the idea of what is “wild” dissolves as soon as we begin to examine it, leaving us with little framework to say what wilderness should look like and which human interventions are acceptable in trying to preserve it. In the tradition of John McPhee’s The Control of Nature and Alan Burdick’s Out of Eden, Jordan Fisher Smith has produced a powerful work of popular science and environmental history, grappling with critical issues that we have even now yet to resolve.

17 .) Letters from Yellowstone written by Diane Smith

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• National Park Obsessed

In the spring of 1898, A. E. (Alexandria) Bartram–a spirited young woman with a love for botany–is invited to join a field study in Yellowstone National Park. The study’s leader, a mild-mannered professor from Montana, assumes she is a man, and is less than pleased to discover the truth. Once the scientists overcome the shock of having a woman on their team, they forge ahead on a summer of adventure, forming an enlightening web of relationships as they move from Mammoth Hot Springs to a camp high in the backcountry. But as they make their way collecting amid Yellowstone’s beauty the group is splintered by differing views on science, nature, and economics. In the tradition of A. S. Byatt’s Angels and Insects and Andrea Barrett’s Ship Fever, this delightful novel captures an ever-fascinating era and one woman’s attempt to take charge of her life.

16 .) Lost in My Own Backyard: A Walk in Yellowstone National Park written by Tim Cahill

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Oars

This title brings author Tim Cahill togather with one of his – and America’s – favourite destinations: Yellowstone, the world’s first national park. Cahill stumbles from glacier to geyser, encounters wildlife, muses on the microbiology of thermal pools, and sees moonbows arcing across waterfalls at midnight.

15 .) Searching for Yellowstone: Ecology and Wonder in the Last Wilderness written by Paul D. Schullery

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Oars

The popular image of the world’s first national park is composed of equal parts myth and hype. Here at last is a true environmental history of Yellowstone, one of America’s greatest and most far-reaching experiments. The author, who has worked in the park as a ranger-naturalist, park historian, and the chief of cultural resources, makes an urgent, eloquent, and practical case for ensuring that Yellowstone lasts another 125 years and beyond.

14 .) The Geysers of Yellowstone written by T. Scott Bryan

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• National Parked

This revised popular field guide describes in detail each of the more than 500 geysers in Yellowstone National Park. With updated information and a new foreword by park archivist Lee Whittlesey, Geysers of Yellowstone is both a reference work and a fine introduction to the nature of geyser activity for the newcomer to geothermal phenomena. A glossary of key terms is provided, along with a comprehensive appendix that discusses other geyser areas of the world. Detailed maps accompany each geyser basin described, and tables are provided for easy reference.

13 .) The Hour of Land written by Terry Tempest Williams

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Oars

America’s national parks are breathing spaces in a world in which such spaces are steadily disappearing, which is why more than 300 million people visit the parks each year. Now Terry Tempest Williams, the author of the environmental classic Refuge and the beloved memoir When Women Were Birds, returns with The Hour of Land, a literary celebration of our national parks, an exploration of what they mean to us and what we mean to them. From the Grand Tetons in Wyoming to Acadia in Maine to Big Bend in Texas and more, Williams creates a series of lyrical portraits that illuminate the unique grandeur of each place while delving into what it means to shape a landscape with its own evolutionary history into something of our own making. Part memoir, part natural history, and part social critique, The Hour of Land is a meditation and a manifesto on why wild lands matter to the soul of America.

12 .) Who Pooped in the Park? written by Gary D. Robson

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Yellowstone Gift

Watch where you step! Sometimes the animals in Yellowstone National Park are hard to find?but you can almost always find their poop! Come along with Michael, Emily, and their family as they find poop (scat) and footprints (tracks) and discover which animal made them! Who Pooped in the Park? Yellowstone National Park is an ideal tool for teaching young children about animal behavior, diet, and scats and tracks identification?it’s the perfect companion for in the car or in the field on your next trip to Yellowstone. Fun illustrations of the animals and their scat and tracks supplement the charming story, and a quick-reference chart at the back will make field identification a breeze.

11 .) Windows into the Earth: The Geologic Story of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks written by Robert B. Smith and Lee J. Siegel

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Oars

Millions of years ago, the North American continent was dragged over the world’s largest continental hotspot, a huge column of hot and molten rock rising from the Earth’s interior that traced a 50-mile wide, 500-mile-long path northeastward across Idaho. Generating cataclysmic volcanic eruptions and large earthquakes, the hotspot helped lift the Yellowstone Plateau to more than 7,000 feet and pushed the northern Rockies to new heights, forming unusually large glaciers to carve the landscape. It also created the jewel of the U.S. national park system: Yellowstone. Meanwhile, forces stretching apart the western U.S. created the mountainous glory of Grand Teton National Park. These two parks, with their majestic mountains, dazzling geysers, and picturesque hot springs, are windows into the Earth’s interior, revealing the violent power of the dynamic processes within. Smith and Siegel offer expert guidance through this awe-inspiring terrain, bringing to life the grandeur of these geologic phenomena as they reveal the forces that have shaped–and continue to shape–the greater Yellowstone-Teton region. Over seventy illustrations–including fifty-two in full color–illuminate the breathtaking beauty of the landscape, while two final chapters provide driving tours of the parks to help visitors enjoy and understand the regions wonders.

10 .) Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler’s Companion to the National Park written by Janet Chapple

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• National Parked

Covering everything there is to know about the world’s first and most diverse national park, this fourth edition of the bestselling guide to Yellowstone boasts more facts, anecdotes, history, and travel tips than ever before. Mile-by-mile road logs document every approach to the park and every interior road. Through easy-to-understand explanations and diagrams, readers will learn of Yellowstone’s campgrounds and facilities, geyser basins and the frequency of the geysers, out-of-the-way hikes, and flora and fauna. Updates to this edition include tinted tabs to indicate the six different regions of the park and their approach roads, in addition to the tabs in previous editions for the geological, historical, and natural history sections; up-to-date scientific information to reflect recent research, including two new geological diagrams; highlighted historic items in the road logs; a dozen new pictures; and fully revised maps to show recent road changes and other details. A 20-page index rounds out this indispensable addition to any travel library.

9 .) Yellowstone Trivia written by Janet Spencer

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Riverbend Publishing

“Trivia Queen” Janet Spencer (Montana Trivia) creates a fun book with the most incredible, unbelievable, wild, weird, fascinating, and true facts about Yellowstone National Park. Great for curious kids, inquisitive campers, inquiring hikers, and smart travelers.

8 .) Yellowstone: A Land of Wild and Wonder written by Christopher Cauble

Lists It Appears On:

• National Parks Traveler
• Riverbend Publishing

7 .) A Weird and Wild Beauty: The Story of Yellowstone, the World’s First National Park written by Erin Peabody

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Goodreads
• National Parks Traveler

The summer of 1871, a team of thirty-two men set out on the first scientific expedition across Yellowstone. Through uncharted territory, some of the day’s most renowned scientists and artists explored, sampled, sketched, and photographed the region’s breathtaking wonders—from its white-capped mountain vistas and thundering falls to its burping mud pots and cauldrons of molten magma. At the end of their adventure, the survey packed up their specimens and boarded trains headed east, determined to convince Congress that the country needed to preserve the land from commercial development. They returned with “stories of wonder hardly short of fairy tales,” to quote the New York Times. With the support of conservationists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Law Olmsted, and John Muir, the importance of a national park was secured. On March 1, 1872, Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone Park Bill into law. It set aside over two million acres of one-of-a-kind wilderness as “a great national park for the benefit and enjoyment of people.” This important and fascinating book will introduce young adults to the astonishing adventure that led to “the best idea America ever had.” Today over 130 countries have copied the Yellowstone model, and billions of acres of critical habitat and spectacular scenery are being preserved for all of us to enjoy. This book has a wonderful ecological and historical message for readers ages 12 and up. No book about Yellowstone’s founding has been written for this age group before, yet Yellowstone National Park is a major destination for many families, so many readers will likely have heard of Yellowstone or even have visited there. This is a great book for any school library or for history or science classrooms in middle and high school, where information can be used for research projects.

6 .) Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone written by George Black

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Goodreads
• Oars

Empire of Shadows is the epic story of the conquest of Yellowstone, a landscape uninhabited, inaccessible and shrouded in myth in the aftermath of the Civil War. In a radical reinterpretation of the nineteenth-century West, George Black casts Yellowstone’s creation as the culmination of three interwoven strands of history – the passion for exploration, the violence of the Indian Wars and the “civilizing” of the frontier – and charts its course through the lives of those who sought to lay bare its mysteries: Lt. Gustavus Cheyney Doane, a gifted but tormented cavalryman known as “the man who invented Wonderland”; the ambitious former vigilante leader Nathaniel Langford; scientist Ferdinand Hayden, who brought photographer William Henry Jackson and painter Thomas Moran to Yellowstone; and Gen. Phil Sheridan, Civil War hero and architect of the Indian Wars, who finally succeeded in having the new National Park placed under the protection of the US Cavalry. George Black’s Empire of Shadows is a groundbreaking historical account of the origins of America’s majestic national landmark.

5 .) In the Temple of Wolves: A Winter’s Immersion in Wild Yellowstone written by Rick Lamplugh

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Goodreads
• National Park Obsessed

More than 80 5-STAR reviews on Amazon. When Rick Lamplugh arrives at the historic Lamar Buffalo Ranch on New Year’s Eve, he has one goal: to learn as much as possible about the ecology of the Lamar Valley. All winter he will work and live in this remote corner of Yellowstone National Park, home to some of the best wildlife watching in the world. Winter-hungry elk and bison migrate there to graze. Wolves, coyotes, and mountain lions stalk the grazers while eagles, ravens, and magpies wait to scavenge. The snowy backdrop makes the saga of death and life easy to spot. He has three frigid months to explore on skis and snowshoes, observe with all his senses, listen to and talk with experts. A literary blend of facts and feelings, In the Temple of Wolves celebrates nature’s stark beauty and treacherous cruelty, while revealing Lamplugh’s inner battles with his own human nature.

4 .) The Year Yellowstone Burned: A Twenty-Five-Year Perspective written by Jeff Henry

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Goodreads
• National Parks Traveler

“The Yellowstone fires of 1988 consumed nearly 800,000 acres–36 p ercent of the park. In the years following, spectacular wildflowers rose from the ashes and trees rapidly reclaimed the landscape. In this twenty-five-year look back at the fires, author and photographer Jeff Henry recalls not only the summer of 1988, when he witnessed and photographed nearly every aspect of the fires, but also the years since as nature healed the charred landscape.”–Back cover.

3 .) Women in Wonderland: Lives, Legends, and Legacies of Yellowstone National Park written by Elizabeth A. Watry

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Goodreads
• Riverbend Publishing

Twelve women who made their mark on Yellowstone National Park are described in a highly praised new book, “Women in Wonderland: Lives, Legends, and Legacies of Yellowstone National Park” by Elizabeth (Betsy) Watry. The women rangers in the book include Marguerite “Peg” Arnold, an intrepid adventurer who drove a Harley Davidson motorcycle from Philadelphia to Yellowstone in 1924 and was the first woman to become a permanent ranger in the National Park Service. Also featured is Dr. Mary Meagher, an expert on Yellowstone’s bison and overall park ecology, who blazed a path for women scientists in the park service. Among the early pioneers in the tourist trade were sisters Anna Trischman Pryor and Belle Trischman with their “Devil’s Kitchenette,” and Ida “Mom” Eagle of the Eagle’s Store in West Yellowstone.

2 .) Yellowstone Has Teeth written by Marjane Ambler

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Goodreads
• National Park Obsessed

Few people have experienced Yellowstone National Park like Marjane Ambler. She and her husband lived in a tiny community near the shores of Yellowstone Lake, deep in the park’s interior. The natural beauty was magnificent, but Ambler and her neighbors discovered that Yellowstone “had teeth.” It could be an unforgiving place where mistakes mattered. In this well-constructed narrative, Ambler reveals a hidden Yellowstone, a place where delight and danger are separated by the slimmest of margins: a degree of pitch on an avalanche slope, a few inches of a buffalo’s horn, a moment during a deadly wildfire. She also tells about: • The rangers and maintenance workers who handled everything from thundering avalanches to man-eating grizzly bears • The mothers who carried their babies inside their snowmobile suits and prayed their machines would not fail on the long ride home •The old-timers who forged communities despite the odds against them. With insight, love, and humor, Yellowstone Has Teeth paints a never-before-seen portrait of an iconic American landscape and the people who live there.

1 .) Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park written by Lee H. Whittlesey

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• National Park Obsessed
• Oars
• Yellowstone Gift

Intriguing stories of how people have died in Yellowstone warn about the many dangers that exist there and in wild areas in general.

The 175+ Additional Best Yellowstone Books

10 Best Yellowstone Book Sources/Lists