Karen’s Books

Visit the Reviews page to see what the critics said.

Hiking America’s National Parks

Published by Rizzoli (2023 )
Winner, 2024 Lowell Thomas Gold Award for “Best Guidebook”

Photos by Jonathan Irish. Foreword by Sally Jewell. This beautifully illustrated coffee-table book was my fourth for Rizzoli’s great hiking trails series. It contains descriptions about all 63 American National Parks: along with hiking recommendations for each park . Featured hikes range from short day-hikes to multi-day backpacks.

America’s National Historic Trails

Foreword Magazine/INDIE awards gold winner
National Outdoor Book Award silver winner
Published by Rizzoli (2020 )
People Magazine: “One of 2020’s best gift books”
Outside Magazine: “For history buffs and trail lovers…. a must give item.”

Photos by Bart Smith, Foreword by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan. Smart editing and beautiful design by the awesome team at Rizzoli. To be quite honest, it was the most difficult book I’ve ever worked on. The 19 trails Congress designated as “national historic trails” encompass a broad sweep of American history from the ancient Polynesians in Hawaii to the CIvil Rights movement in Alabama, In between were explorers, soldiers, settlers, religious refugees, gold miners, and Indians being torn from their land. This book is about the intersection of story and landscape, and about the places where we can walk the paths of our forebears.

Essential Knots

Published by Adventure Publications

In between my narrative writing projects, I was asked to write a little book on how to tie 21 of the world’s most useful knots and secure your gear when camping, hiking, fishing, and playing outdoors. Clear, handy, and useful. Also beautifully designed, with step by step instructions and illustrations.

Great Hiking Trails of the World

Published by Rizzoli (2017 )
2018 Foreword Magazine/IndieFab 2017 Gold award winner in Nature.
Included in the New York Times Book Review‘s holiday round-up of outdoors books.
Included in People magazine’s best books guide for the holidays.
Included in Associated Press best travel books roundup.

38 of the world’s greatest hiking trails are described in detail, with photographs that will make even the most dedicated armchair traveler consider putting on a pair of hiking boots. 42 more trails are described more briefly. Foreword by Bill McKibben.

More info from Rizzoli

America’s Great Hiking Trails

Rizzoli, 2014
National Geographic (in German) 2014
New York Times Travel Bestseller
Lowell Thomas Gold for best travel book
Barnes and Noble: “Top Book Picks 2014”
Yahoo: “One of the year’s best books for travel”

A celebration of America’s national scenic trails, this lavish coffee table book features photography by Bart Smith, an introduction by Bill McKibben, and essays about America’s great long-distance hiking trails.

The Pacific Crest Trail

A Hiker’s Companion
Countryman/W.W. Norton, 2000; Second edition published in 2014

Karen Berger and Daniel R. Smith break the PCT into 18 sections. For each one, they tell you about the route, gear, seasonal considerations, what you’ll see (history and natural features), thru-hiker considerations, trailheads, resupplies, best hikes, and thru-hiker info.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Piano Exercises

Alpha Books, 2011

In addition to writing the text, Karen composed and recorded the music for this book of piano exercises. The book introduces the reader to a wide range of piano techniques, including fingering strategies, cross-hand playing, scales and arpeggios, syncopation, polyrhythms, and transposition.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Teaching Music on Your Own

Alpha Books, 2010

How to market, operate, and manage an independent music teaching studio.

Be Prepared: Hiking and Backpacking

DK, 2007, in cooperation with Boy Scouts of America

An outdoors primer based on Karen’s 2005 title, Backpacking and Hiking.

The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Piano Chords

Alpha Books, 2006

Ever wonder how people can “just sit down and play songs” on the piano? This book reveals the secrets to “faking” it — playing by means of chords symbols. But shhhh… don’t let anyone tell you it’s “music theory.”

Backpacking and Hiking

DK Eyewitness Companion, 2005

Beautifully illustrated, chock-full of facts, and up-to-date with pictures of the latest gear and techniques and destination information for hikes around the world.

This book has been published in 12 languages: French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, and English. The American edition includes write-ups of more than a hundred US parks and trails; the European editions include more than 100 European parks and trails.

Hiking Light Handbook

Carry Less, Enjoy More
Mountaineers Books with Backpacker magazine, 2004

This book is written for anyone who has ever lugged a too-heavy pack up a too-steep hill.

Contains safe, sane strategies for reducing packweight without sacrificing comfort or safety.

More Everyday Wisdom

Trail Tested Advice from the Experts
Mountaineers Books with Backpacker magazine, 2002

This books assumes you’ve got a little bit of trail mileage — and a lot of questions. Based on hundreds of questions hikers have asked in lectures, on the trail, and via letters and the Internet.

Hiking & Backpacking

A Complete Guide
W.W. Norton, 1995, Updated edition: October 2002

Written in cooperation with PBS’s award-winning TV show, Trailside, this is one of the best-selling hiking books in America. Covers planning, food, destinations, gear, camping, and more. More than 125,000 copies in print.

Hiking the Triple Crown

How to Hike America’s Longest Trails
Mountaineers Books, 2001

Only about two dozen people have completed thru-hikes of the Triple Crown — the Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide National Scenic Trails. Karen is one of them. In this book, she shares the knowledge gleaned from hiking nearly 8,000 miles of some of the best wilderness in America.

Scuba Diving

A Complete Guide (Trailside series)
W.W. Norton, 2000

The only YMCA/Scuba-sanctioned guide to the wonders of the underwater world. Trailside’s Scuba Diving is a comprehensive diving guide that covers the information standard in all certification courses, with chapters on gear, dive planning, safety and first aid, the science of diving and how it affects the human body, diving techniques, the underwater environment, using dive tables and computers.

Adventure Is My State of Mind