Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harbin Hot Springs | 1991 | Ellen Klages | Buy |
| 2 | Exploratorium | 1997 | Ellen Klages | Buy |
Ellen Klages’s non-fiction work includes two books published before her fiction career took off. Harbin Hot Springs (1991) covers the California retreat center, and Exploratorium (1997) is about the hands-on science museum in San Francisco where Klages worked for many years.
Klages spent years at the Exploratorium as a staff member, and her book about the museum reflects firsthand experience with its exhibits and philosophy of hands-on learning. The museum was founded by Frank Oppenheimer and has been a model for interactive science education worldwide. Harbin Hot Springs, her earlier book, documents a very different kind of California institution.
These non-fiction titles show a side of Klages that her fiction readers might not know about. Her interest in science and how people learn about the physical world turns up frequently in her short stories and novels, and the Exploratorium connection helps explain where that curiosity comes from.