About James Kaiser • National Park Guidebooks

How did I get the best job in world? It’s a long story. But here’s the short version:

In 1999, after graduating from Dartmouth College, I went back to Maine, where I was born and raised, and wrote Acadia: The Complete Guide. When it came out the response was overwhelming. People came up to me at book signings with dog-eared copies of my book, telling me it was the only guide they used.

My Costa Rica waterfall photo on the cover of *National Geographic*

Thinking I might have a knack for guidebook writing, I moved to California and wrote guidebooks to Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon and Yosemite. After those books became bestsellers, I went to Costa Rica — a country filled with national parks — and wrote Costa Rica: The Complete Guide.

My guidebooks have sold over 100,000 copies, and each of my guides to Acadia, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Joshua Tree have been the bestselling guidebooks to their respective national parks.

In 2016, to help celebrate the National Park Service centennial, I put together a national park slideshow presentation for elementary schools. This coincided with the launch of Every Kid In A Park, which gives free park passes to every fourth grader in America. My goal is to inspire the next generation to appreciate national parks in America — and beyond.

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