Obi Kaufmann is a Bay Area author, poet, painter, and naturalist. He grew up in the East Bay as the son of an astrophysicist and a psychologist, and spent most of high school practicing calculus and breaking away in the evenings to scramble around Mount Diablo and map its creeks, oak forests, and sage mazes. His first book, the award-winning 550-page California Field Atlas (Heyday Books, 2017), took readers off the beaten path and outside normal conceptions of California. Myriad ecologies, topographies, and histories are revealed along with hundreds of exquisite hand-painted maps and trail paintings, blending science and art to illuminate the multifaceted array of the natural world. Kaufmann’s second book, The State of Water, Understanding California’s Most Precious Resource (Heyday, 2019), turns his artful yet analytical attention to the Golden State’s single most complex and controversial resource. Also fully illustrated, this title includes pragmatic yet inspiring solutions to how water in the West can continue to support agriculture, municipalities, and the environment. Obi Kaufmann makes his home base in Oakland and is currently working on four new books. Follow him on Instagram @coyotethunder and at www.coyoteandthunder.com and at www.californiafieldatlas.com.