National Geographic Complete National Parks of the United States, 3rd Edition: 400+ Parks, Monuments, Battlefields, Historic Sites, Scenic Trails, Recreation Areas, and Seashores

National Geographic has so many wonderful books for adults and for children. I got this book for my son-in-law as a retirement gift. It is full of beautiful pictures and information. Everyone loves the National Parks.

The images and descriptions in the this book have definitely caused me to add some new destinations to my travel plans. I love that it's regional so I can plan for places nearby or plan a whole area I'd like to travel to in the future.

Very nice book. Great pictures and lots of information about each park. Well organized. Given as a gift and recipient really liked it.

Great way to learn about America. Planning a big trip. This is a good way to figure out where we want to go

National Geographic’s National Parks of the U.S. is a great book! It gives well-written overviews of national parks, recreation areas, monuments, memorials, historic parks & sites, battlefield & military parks & sites, scenic & historic trails, and natural areas (preserves, seashores, lakeshores, rivers, & reserves) in the United States. The photos and maps are first-rate, and the information is well-organized by region and state. This book is best used as a place to do initial trip planning. For more detailed information about a specific park, it’d be better to seek out additional resources (such as that park’s website). I did not give this book five stars because it’s not as complete as it leads you to believe. This book covers only places administered by the National Park System. Yes, you’ll find info on all 63 national parks. But the book excludes dozens of recreation areas, monuments, memorials, historic sites, and trails that most of us would consider to be “national” — places like Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The reason? They are administered by an agency other than the National Park Service. (I’m looking at you Forest Service.) So even though a parkland might include the word “National” in its name, you might not find it in this book. I get it: any author or publisher has to “draw a line” around the subject matter to be included and then exclude everything else. Otherwise, the book could become too large and unwieldy. But I think most people who enjoy the outdoors are not overly concerned about who exactly manages the national park they plan to visit. And when a book about national parklands bills itself as “complete” but then excludes many large and important national areas (a partial list is coming up), then it’s a problem. Here is a list of some of the larger (> 100,000 acres) national recreation areas and monuments you will NOT find in this book: National Recreation Areas: • Flaming Gorge (WY & UT) • Hells Canyon (OR & ID) • Land Between the Lakes (KY, TN) • Mount Rogers (VA) • Sawtooth (ID) • Smith River (CA) • Spring Mountains (NV) • White Mountains (AK) National Monuments: • Admiralty Island (AK) • Basin & Range (NV) • Berryessa Snow Mountain (CA) • Canyons of the Ancients (CO) • Carrizo Plain (CA) • Cascade–Siskiyou (OR & CA) • Gold Butte (NV) • Hanford Reach (WA) • Ironwood Forest (AZ) • Misty Fjords (AK) • Mojave Trails (CA) • Mount St. Helens Volcanic (WA) • Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks (NM) • Río Grande del Norte (NM) • San Gabriel Mountains (CA) • Sand to Snow (CA) • Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains (CA) • Sonoran Desert (AZ) • Upper Missouri River Breaks (MT) • Vermilion Cliffs (AZ)

Bought this as a gift for my daughter and I was very excited for her to get it. She likes to travel to different parks and it’s very informative and full of pictures and information. I would definitely give it to anyone on your list who likes to travel

One of the few guides to both parks and monuments. Some sections are brief, but provide a starting point for further research.

Bought for Christmas gifts for my 2 sons and their families. They loved the book!

Maps not that good, very small

Das Buch hat ein gösseres Format, als das Taschenbuchformat, das ist auch gut so, da man das Buch zum Informieren & Planen nutzen sollte und im Auto dabei haben kann, weniger zum im Rucksack dabei zu haben. Sehr umfassend, alle Parks enthalten und viele tolle Bilder, die einem Lust auf den Besuch der Parks machen und auch bei der Auswahl der Parks & Gegenden helfen, die man besuchen möchte. Mir gefällt, dass dieses Nationalpark Führer auf Englisch ist. Er bietet vielfältige Informationen und Karten. Ich kann ihn voll und ganz weiter empfehlen.