CALIFORNIANA

The California Field Atlas, by Obi Kaufmann (Heyday; 527 pages; $45). Pick up this compact, voluminous book, and you’ll have the impression of holding a bible. Pore through its pages, and you’ll be blessed with a similar sense of communion. Kaufmann, who lives in Oakland, has created a magnificent ode to the natural wonders of his home state, gracing it with page after page of his beautiful watercolors of landscapes and creatures as well as hand-painted maps and useful lists. “The California Field Atlas” stands as one of the finest books ever published by Heyday, the Berkeley nonprofit. Any Californian’s life would be enriched by owning a copy.

The Mission, by Dick Evans (Heyday; 162 pages; $30). Evans spent four years photographing the San Francisco district, and the 178 images in this collection are a testament to his love of the neighborhood and its people, as depicted in colorful murals. Heyday published the book with the help of the Precita Eyes Muralists Association.

Coastal California: The Pacific Coast Highway and Beyond, by Jake Rajs (Rizzoli; 256 pages; $50). California’s coast is no hidden secret, of course, but Rajs’ lavish book gives us a new appreciation of its hundreds of miles of grandeur. His 175 radiant photographs range from the wild, rocky shores of Mendocino to the sundrenched beaches of San Diego.

San Francisco Noir, by Fred Lyon (Princeton Architectural Press; 220 pages; $40). No photographer has better captured the allure of San Francisco in all its foggy, cinematic splendor than Lyon, the fourth-generation San Franciscan who is now 93. His latest book assembles 200 black-and-white images of what is largely a lost world of jazz clubs, seedy streets and everyday working-class life.