Charles Hood is a poet and naturalist. The author of over twenty books, he has been a factory worker, a ski instructor, a dishwasher, and a nature guide in Africa. Nature study has taken him across all fifty of the US states and to eighty countries, from New Guinea to Borneo to the South Pole. Along the way he has been lost in a whiteout in the Himalayas, contracted (and survived) bubonic plague, and published more than seven hundred photographs. His titles with Timber Press include Wild LA, a field guide to reptiles and amphibians, and a guide to the best roadside hikes in California. Jane Goodall wrote the foreword to his book Wild Sonoma, and his essay collection, A Salad Only the Devil Would Eat, was named the Nonfiction Book of the Year by the editors of Foreword book review. He lives in the Mojave Desert with two kayaks, two mountain bikes, two dogs, and five thousand books.