Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California, by David Alt and Donald Hyndman (Mountain Press), covers wider ground and is organized around the major roads. It's an excellent companion for any California road trip, giving you insight into the landscape around your windshield and suggestions for side trips when you have an extra hour or two.
Entrees
Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region *, by Doris Sloane with photographs by John Karachewsky (UC Press), is a beautifully produced compendium that systematically introduces the region from the Bay itself to the mountains around it, including maps, tables of information, field trip ideas and the background knowledge to make the most of them. It's built to last, too.
A Streetcar to Subduction, by the late Clyde Wahrhaftig (American Geophysical Union), presents seven field trips in and near San Francisco using public transit. Wahrhaftig, who never learned to drive, was a superb field geologist and teacher.
Field Guide to the San Andreas Fault *, by David Lynch (Thule Scientific), is a mile-by-mile road log that covers the great fault from end to end. If you're as serious about the fault as I am, you'll want this to support the extensive traveling it will take to visit the whole thing. It's divided into 12 day trips, three of which encompass the Bay Area.
Finding Fault in California: An Earthquake Tourist's Guide *, by Susan Hough (Mountain Press), focuses on faults throughout California that you can visit in person, but the San Andreas naturally has pride of place. Hough is a very good teacher of earthquake science, too.
Geologic Field Trips in Northern California (California Division of Mines and Geology Special Publication 119) is a hard-core set of annotated road logs published for the Geological Society of America's Cordilleran Section centennial meeting in 1999. Trips include unsung features in the Bay Area and outliers such as the Sutter Buttes, Santa Lucia Range and the western Sierra.
1906 San Francisco Earthquake Centennial Field Guides (Geological Society of America Field Guide 7) includes annotated walks in San Francisco, day trips in the surrounding area, and a four-day loop through Northern California exploring subduction rocks.
Dessert
Magnitude 8 *, by Philip Fradkin (UC Press), is my favorite book on the San Andreas fault for home reading because Fradkin goes beyond geology and field trips (which he covers well) to explore the mindset that our earthquake-prone region has fostered. There is no better treatment of the geologic roots of our peculiar local culture.
A Wine Journey along the Russian River *, by Steve Heimoff (UC Press), explores the land and vines and wines associated with the Russian River. It's naturally a treat for wine lovers, but he treats the river itself and the rocks it traverses in unexpected depth. If wine is your magic key to everything else, this will open a new door for you.
San Francisco Bay, by Harold Gilliam (Doubleday), is a 1957 classic that will smother you in pleasure and nostalgia as it sweeps through the geological, natural and cultural history of "California's vital inland sea." Look for it wherever old books are sold.
Day Trips: Roaming the Backroads of Northern California, by Peter Browning (Chronicle Books), is a supplementary text that will help you reach some truly remote parts of the Bay Area, although it will not tell you a lot about the rocks you're seeing.
Rocks and Minerals of California, by Vinson Brown, David Allan and James Stark (Naturegraph), is a compact guide to mineral localities of the whole state. It includes abundant maps and tables that will get you to places no other book will list.
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Doris Sloane, author of Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region, gives a public lecture in the Berkeley Hills in 2007. Photo by Andrew Alden.