Anyone who's ever climbed Half Dome will want to read Bob Madgic's gripping, intimate account of the most calamitous day ever on the imposing rock. His thoughtful, sensitive treatment of individual reactions, both foolhardy and heroic, in the face of lightning and its aftermath is riveting.

The gripping anatomy of a tragic accident is entitled Shattered Air, and it shows not only how it happened, but why.

This is a book that's hard to put down.The hard-cover book normally sells for $24.95, but it's available to our members for only $21.21 with their 15% discount.

Noted conservationist and botany professor, Peter Raven, headlines a weekend of lectures, field trips and other presentations that we're calling The Yosemite Botanical Symposium, October 28 - 30 in Wawona. Raven, who did some of his graduate research in Yosemite, has been awarded the National Medal of Science and was described by Time magazine as a "Hero for the Planet."

He'll be joined by Steve Botti, the author of An Illustrated Flora of Yosemite (the BIG book!), along with some of the park's NPS and USGS botany team, to direct our attention to Yosemite's rare species, ethnobotany, giant sequoias, non-flowering plants, and some of the important history of floral studies in the park.

In addition to Dr. Raven's focus on conservation and sustainable development, and Botti's emphasis on local flora, there will be a strands of presentations on more general Yosemite elements besides botany.

The regular registration fee for the Yosemite Botanical Symposium is $230, but with their 15% discount, YA members can enroll for only $195.50!

This year, Yosemite's heavier-than-normal snowpack has sent powerful waterfalls crashing over once-dry granite, filled rivers, and closed the park for one day because of flooding.

On the minute end of the scale, it has hatched thousands of buzzing, biting mosquitoes that love puddles of standing water.

Are there more mosquitoes than normal? Lots of Yosemite old-timers think so, and the bugs are present much later than in a typical year.

A recent article in the Fresno Bee polled a number of Yosemite visitors about their mosquito experiences.

Talented ornithologists, Hans Peeters and Pam Peeters (who appeared at this year's Yosemite Birding Festival), have recently published a fine, illustrated guide to California's birds of prey.

Entitled Raptors of California, the handy volume features descriptions of every diurnal California raptor with state-of-the-art, beautiful illustrations.

This is a book that will be prized by raptor watchers everywhere for its insightful and descriptive notes on behavior and ecology and its gorgeous and accurate paintings.

The guidebook with its sturdy, washable cover normally retails for $17.95, but Yosemite Association members are afforded a 15% discount and can buy it now for only $15.26!