Cancel

    Open app

    Search

    Forest Books

    4.4 (38 reviews)
    ModerateBookstores
    Closed 12:00 pm - 8:00 PM
    Updated 2 months ago

    Forest Books Photos

    You might also consider

    Recommended Reviews - Forest Books

    Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
    Yelp app icon
    Browse more easily on the app
    Review Feed Illustration

    Reviews With Photos

    Shane S.

    I grew up in a martial arts family and backpacked a week in Japan. I love Japanese culture. I love Japantown. Forest Books is a top notch bookstore that is recommended. I love bookstores and Forest Books is on their A game. Friendly staff can direct you in the right direction. Very cool book of interviews with the immortal Bob Dylan and awesome book of photographs of Patti Smith. Loved their books in Eastern Religion and philosophy. I picked up an interesting book on the I Ching. Like plant based legend Arnold said "I'll be back".

    Molly L.

    This is a cute bookstore that has an interesting array of books from books on spirituality, inner peace, languages, and children's books. While I paid much more for a Siddartha book than I could've paid online, my partner found a chinese language book that explains the different characters in chinese for a fraction for what he could have gotten it for. What I loved about this place coming here on a Saturday afternoon was the community vibes - there were children, adults and those in between surveying the book shop. The books themselves were interesting ones that fit my type of books of self-exploration and cultural understanding. I hope to be back here again soon!!

    Yifan L.

    Yelp is all about local business, and a local business like this should definitely be on every book-lover Yelper's radar. I mainly judge a bookstore by its inventory and the friendliness of the staff. Forest books excels in both aspects. In terms of inventory, it may be kind of small compared to Moe's books in Berkeley, but it has the same appeal for having a good variety of non-commercial books, focusing on more academic topics. I bought The Origins of Totalitarianism on my first visit here and got into a conversation with the store owner about this book. This touches the second aspect of this store: the owner and staff are all very friendly to the customers and make great book recommendations. The owner has a keen interest in Asian studies, so I would recommend anyone looking for books on Asian culture to visit the store and talk to him personally!

    See all

    6 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Bob K.
    108
    595
    1231

    10 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Anne W.
    0
    98
    316

    6 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    6 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    10 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Shane S.
    108
    1050
    5704

    5 years ago

    Helpful 6
    Thanks 0
    Love this 6
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 2
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1

    7 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Rohan D.
    380
    3657
    10784

    7 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of LE A.
    7
    25
    2

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Leme K.
    119
    610
    1641

    12 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    12 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Justin P.
    6
    153
    17

    6 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    9 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 1
    Photo of James A.
    132
    11
    1

    6 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    13 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of K G.
    1
    9
    0

    11 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of S A.
    9
    88
    377

    11 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    9 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 1
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    12 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    9 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Mai R.
    0
    133
    14

    13 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 1
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    9 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    10 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    12 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 years ago

    What a fantastic place to pick up the evening's reading or a book for the plane, also, wonderful Japanese incense!

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    13 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Azuro B.
    44
    69
    48

    10 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Amy V.
    0
    17
    2

    12 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    9 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    13 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    Ask the Community - Forest Books

    Review Highlights - Forest Books

    The shop specializes in second-hand books of all kinds, and their Buddhist text collection is impressive.

    Mentioned in 2 reviews

    Read more highlights

    You might also consider

    City Lights - The staircase leading upstairs to the main floor.

    City Lights

    4.4(816 reviews)
    1.5 miChinatown
    $$

    One of the neatest bookstores in the US. The Poetry room upstairs is wonderful. So much fun…read morehistory here to learn about. And this bookstores has some amazing staff book recommendations with little tags on the bookshelf telling you why they loved that book so much; found some great new finds that way. Dont forget to get your books stamped with their bookstores stamp on the way out!

    An amazing bookstore and so glad I asked chatGPT to give me some ideas for a stroll around SF near…read moreUnion Square. Well, ok, this place isnt close to Union Sq, about a mile away, but it was a perfect delicious end destination for a post dinner stroll! I like bookstores and I like eclectic, unique ones. I'll go to Barnes & Noble if I had no other choice, but my favorite bookstores are independent ones and ones where they carry very unique books you can't find elsewhere. This bookstore made my inner little nerdy self so happy. I immediately got lost up front looking at very recent publication by Ai Weiwei. I then wandered onto the main floor and found an entire section of Asian works, which you will not find at B&N. I also found books from Norwegian writers too which I had never seen before, which thrilled me. I then made my way up to their attic floor which is dedicated to poetry and seems I just missed Allen Ginsberg's Howl centennial celebration. Ugh! I then came back down and then proceeded to their basement section and again I was quite pleasantly surprised by the depth and breadth of Asian themed books they had. They had plenty of the Chinese classics in English and found so many different versions of Journey to the West, I was completely overwhelmed. And then, saw an entire section on Africa and I had to fight hard to not pick up a copy of a book titled Prison Letters, which is a collection of Mandela's letters while imprisoned. I ultimately settled on two books by Ai Weiwei as he has continued to inspire me to be proud, to not conform, to be brave, to speak up, to be authentically and unapologetically me, to honor my ancestry and to push boundaries and to fight for what matters. And it just so happens too that my Chinese give name is also Weiwei. I loved coming to this bookstore and it will definitely be on rotation for me when I am in SF again.

    Photos
    City Lights - Downstairs

    Downstairs

    City Lights - The upstairs location of the bookstore.

    The upstairs location of the bookstore.

    City Lights - The bottom floor that you have to go downstairs to.

    See all

    The bottom floor that you have to go downstairs to.

    Dog Eared Books - Interior

    Dog Eared Books

    4.3(322 reviews)
    2.0 miMission
    $$

    While visiting the city of San Francisco came across Dog Eared Books and decided to stop in to see…read morewhat they had to offer. The bookstore was small and pretty busy with customers reading and selecting books to purchase. I walked around the bookstore to see what would catch my eye and they had so many good books to choose from. Walked over to their clearance section and found two books that peaked my interest. Ended up purchasing, the portrait of Dorian Grey and animal farm. They we're both a steel at a discounted price. These two books were on my list of books that I've been wanting to read, and now they have been added to my personal library. The employees here are welcoming and friendly. They are also very busy, keeping the store while organized and appealing to the eye.

    The coolest bookstore I've ever been to!…read more My friend and I were on a mission for books to add to our "to-read" lists, and found this really cool store via google. It's nice to see small business bookstores doing so well, because it was really busy here! I wish we had more businesses like this where we're from. Small inside, but room to navigate around. I loved the Staff Picks and science fiction sections the best. There's also a decent fiction selection as well. At check-out, we ended up getting 4 books each! So there are some really great finds here. We'll definitely come back! This was such a fun shopping experience.

    Photos
    Dog Eared Books - Come on in

    Come on in

    Dog Eared Books - Inside (2/2/25)

    Inside (2/2/25)

    Dog Eared Books

    See all

    Christopher's Books - Outside

    Christopher's Books

    4.7(134 reviews)
    2.4 miPotrero Hill
    $$

    Bookstores come and go in San Francisco. This bookstore located in Potrero Hill has been around for…read moredecades. This bookstore location became famous in the movie "Sweet November". The Charlize Theron character lived Nextdoor on the same block as the Christopher Bookstore (featured in the movie). Inside there a good selection of variety of books from different perspectives. The decor has a feel of historic and modern San Francisco. This bookstore has a diverse book collection that are insightful and creative A bookstore is great for tourists, transplants and even for a San Francisco native

    I LOVE small bookshops! This one on the corner in Potrero Hill (SF) is adorable! We hadn't…read moreplanned on it, we had dinner at the French Restaurant across the street. ( Chez Maman -also sublime ). Anyway, after dinner we decided to check out Christopher's Books. . It was kind of busy for a weeknight, which is so cool. Love that people like to peruse books, actually feel books in their hand and turn pages. you are my people. So I walked the whole book store, they have a tiny children's section, my sister who is a teacher, and a new grandma , settled there and bought a few books. I saw a book that I had heard about (All Fours) and heard the author interviewed on the radio, I picked it up and settled on it. I love that they have little handwritten cards describing some of the books and that there are employees picks, and what they liked about the book. When we went up to make our purchases, that is when I learned of Jimmy Carter's death. ( he had died that day and I hadn't yet heard ). There was a little handwritten card with his books at the counter and the card said, Jimmy Carter - 1924-2024. I said, "Oh my God did Jimmy Carter die?" We chatted about what a wonderful man he was, dignified, honest, his service to the people, the Habitat for Humanity legacy. His love for his wife who had preceded him ..... I digress. Anyway, if you're in the neighborhood, and you love books, and quaint spaces, check it out!

    Photos
    Christopher's Books - Inside

    Inside

    Christopher's Books
    Christopher's Books - The sign outside Christopher's Books

    See all

    The sign outside Christopher's Books

    Forest Books - bookstores - Updated May 2026

    Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...