The Wilderness World of John Muir

by Edwin Way Teale, Edwin Way Teale (Editor)

John Muir's extraordinary vision of America comes to life in these fascinating selections from his personal journals. 

As a conservationist, John Muir traveled through most of the American wilderness alone and on foot, without a gun or a sleeping bag. In 1903, while on a three-day camping trip with President Theodore Roosevelt, he convinced the president of the importance of a national conservation program, and he is widely recognized for saving the Grand Canyon and Arizona's Petrified Forest. Muir's writing, based on journals he kept throughout his life, gives our generation a picture of an America still wild and unsettled only one hundred years ago. In The Wildernesss World of John Muir Edwin Way Teale has selected the best of Muir's writing from all of his major works—including My First Summer in the Sierra and Travels in Alaska—to provide a singular collection that provides to be "magnificent, thrilling, exciting, breathtaking, and awe-inspiring" (Kirkus Reviews).

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Biography, Travel, History, Adventure, Science

332 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Edwin Way Teale was an American naturalist, photographer, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. Teale's works serve as primary source material documenting environmental conditions across North America from 1930 - 1980. He is perhaps best known for his series The American Seasons, four books documenting over 75,000 miles (121,000 km) of automobile travel across North America following the changing seasons.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Muir's early life, see my review of Thousand Mile Walk; his Scottish father refusing to pay for Muir's university training (Wisconsin), he drops out and walks to the Gulf, sleeping outside, especially in cemeteries. A bit of that first book's in this collection.
Muir liked reading Emerson, whom I often aloudread in my birdbook talks (particularly his verses, "The Titmouse,"* about a Chickadee's bravery in a winter storm, saying like Caesar, "Ve-ni vi-di vi-c(h)i." Years later in the Sierra Nevada, Emerson visited Muir with a host of protectors. Of all the people Muir had shown the Sierras in his first year there, "I found no-one half warm enough until Emerson came...He seemed as serene as a Sequoia, his head in the empyrean" (p.163) Muir wanted Emerson* to join him sleeping outside all night, as Muir did his whole life, but Emerson's handlers figured the old man wasn't up to it, "His party, full of indoor philosophy, failed to see the natural beauty...of my wild plan." A disappointment for Muir (age 33), and possibly for Emerson (68).

In this volume you can see Muir's writing improved in his accounts of the Western mountains, his coming across bear with his St Bernard, Carlo, and shotgun, avoiding shooting. He'd know when there was a bear ahead since Carlo would not proceed ahead of him, his ears and tail down. Once he had not brought his gun. He made a sudden rush at the bear, a dozen yard away through the brush, but to his dismay, the bear did not run. (Possibly he had never encountered man, up on these heights.)
"I was afraid to run, and therefore, like the bear, held my ground...How long our strenuous interview lasted, I don't know..but in the slow fulness of time, he took his huge paws down off the log, and with magnificent deliberation turned and walked leisurely up the meadow...His bread is sure in all seasons,...tasting each in turn as if he had journeyed thousands of miles...to enjoy their varied productions"(131).
Muir's great dog stories; a small black dog named for the Indian tribe he came from, Stickeen,
proves unexpected master of glacier-crevass hopping.
Great account of canyons, even knowing someone is ten miles away.


* "To a Titmouse" is the addendum to my recent book, "Conversations with Birds: the Metaphysics of Bird and Human Communication." Emerson was interim minister at my New Bedford Unitarian Church in 1831, before the current castlelike stone edifice was built in 1838. We do boast a bust of Emerson in the R front of the Church, as well as a huge Tiffany mosaic behind the lectern--and a Flentrop organ.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite quotes is from John Muir.

"The mountains are calling and I must go."

This is on a sticker that is on my hiking water bottle and it is the clarion call that rallies us for our annual vacation in Colorado. And though I love the quote, I had never read anything by Muir. This book was my introduction, it did not disappoint.

A few thoughts on Muir. First, he was a very good story teller and a great thinker. My favorite story from this collection was "Stickeen," the tale of Muir, a little dog, and a day on a glacier. Secondly, his adventures are mind boggling considering there were no expedition teams, supplies, safety equipment, etc. The plans and gear were absent from his trips to the back-country. He would simply set out with his notebook and a little bread. Thirdly, I believe his philosophy would be of great benefit in our frazzled world of today. Another of his quotes, "In God's wildness lies the hope of the world - the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness. The galling harness of civilization drops off, and the wounds heal ere we are aware."

My dog-ears and highlights:

pg. 144 - the glorious beauty and glorious power of Ililouette Falls; the sound of rushing water!
pg. 163 - Muir tries to convince Emerson to go up into the wild; Emerson longed to go but his "handlers" would not let him
pg. 231 Any Fool Can Destroy a Tree (how many trees were bulldozed for the sake of a housing development or shopping center while I read this book???)
pg. 277 - Stickeen!
pg. 318 - "one day's exposure to the mountains..."
pg. 320 - compulsory recreation for the masses!

Now on to "The Wild Muir." I can't wait...would like to read it while deep in the back-country of Colorado but will probably have to settle for some Texas Wilderness.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books of all time. Muir is a tour de force. His casual easy-going writing style and his zest for life and all things natural are captivating in and of themselves but the true value of this book is the close-up view it provides of Muir's humble beginnings and unlikely rise to prominence. He faced considerably more obstacles than most of us, being pulled out of school early to work on the family farm for an ungrateful father and heading out into the world with virtually no money, family connections or education. All he took with him were a few weird and wonderful inventions created in isolation in his basement during the early hours of the morning (before heading out into the fields each day). Despite his family's harsh predictions, these inventions were surprisingly well received by the outside world and a truly astounding life path ensued.

Reading this book one gets the sense Muir could have easily succeeded in any field of his choosing (he even ran a successful factory for a period). Fortunately for us however, this is not the biography of a businessman, politician or even philosopher. Muir's love of nature, dislike of materialism and fierce independence combine to create a much more interesting and remarkable character than we are commonly exposed to in the public realm. Indeed, Muir is one of the all-time American greats on par with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. I can highly recommend that you read this book.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muir's writing is some of my favourite. I love his deep, passionate connection to the land and the lyricism with which he details that connection. John Muir was a brilliant writer whose ardent love of the wilderness reads vibrantly, poetically, and movingly. His writing is about his own connection to the land, but it is written in an impeccably universal way without pretentiousness or arrogance. Beautiful and engrossing.

[Colette · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I have a low opinion of books; they are but piles of stones set up to show coming travelers where other minds have been, or at best signal smokes to call attention. . . No amount of word-making will ever make a single soul to know these mountains. As well seek to warm the naked and frostbitten by lectures on caloric and pictures of flame. One day's exposure to mountains is better than cartloads of books. See how willingly Nature poses herself upon photographers' plates. No earthly chemicals are so sensitive as those of the human soul. All that is required is exposure, and purity of material. 'The pure in heart shall see God!'" While parts of this book deserve five stars, others only deserve one. All in all, however, it is a fascinating look at a man who saved so much of what I love. A few months ago, we took a picture of our family in front of the Great Grizzly at Mariposa Grove. It is amazing to know that Emerson and Muir may have walked that same path.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

No book and no man has so enriched my already deep love of nature like Muir. He makes me crave to learn more, and appreciate more, the beauty in our world.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking to finish this book after hearing today that Yosemite burns.

The man can turn a phrase! From lovely alliteration, “...groans and tears, mingled with morbid exultation; burial companies, black in cloth and countenance; and, last of all, a black box burial in an ill-omened place, haunted by imaginary glooms and ghosts of every degree,” to poetry-in-prose, “Like the bluebirds they dared every danger in defense of home, and we often wondered that birds so gentle could be so bold and that sweet-voiced singers could so fiercely fight and scold,” and sermon, “...in one moment that cheerful, confiding bird preached me the most effectual sermon on heavenly trust that I had ever heard through all the measured hours of Sabbath, and I went on not half so heart-sick, not half so weary.”

I have dozens of dog-eared pages longing to be quoted, but instead I’ll just urge you to read it, especially the last chapter (The Philosophy of John Muir), repeatedly. And now..."The mountains are calling, and I must go."

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m grateful that John Muir writes with such vivid and exquisite language, because it means my imagination is fed the wonders of nature without my body having to cross a 40 foot crevasse. That said, I will heed well his warning about living vicariously through books. I get it, John Muir, I promise I will go touch grass.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love John Muir for his brilliant mind, his deep respect and awe of God's creations, and his beautiful words. What a truly special and talented and spiritual man. I would have loved to hang out with him in Yosemite back in the day. I loved this book, loved getting to know him. I'm a superfan and will stand in line to meet him in heaven.

PS I don't necessarily recommend this book. You have to want to read this. The descriptions are lengthy and if you aren't swept up in it, you would probably want to poke your eyes out. (Even I, a fan and tree-hugger, did not read the last section because I was done with all the description without much story by then.)

Favorite parts:

The first section reminds me so much of the Little House books. I love his wild tendencies and passion for the natural world from the beginning. It's inspiring!

I wandered away on a glorious botanical and geological excursion, which has lasted nearly fifty years and is not yet completed, always happy and free, poor and rich, without thought of a diploma or of making a name, urged on and on through endless, inspiring, Godful beauty. p72

I was compelled to sleep with the trees in the one great bedroom of the open night. p82

Not a breath of air moved the gray moss, and the great black arms of the trees met overhead and covered the avenue. But the canopy was fissured by many a netted seam and leafy-edged opening, through which the moonlight sifted its auroral rays, broidering the blackness in silvery light. p91

His descriptions are so beautiful, every one. This one (above) stood out especially. I love John Muir!

Often I thought I would like to explore the city if, like a lot of wild hills and valleys, it was clear of inhabitants. I can make my exhilarated way over an unknown ice-field or sure-footedly up a titanic gorge, but in these terrible canyons of New York, I am a pitiful, unrelated atom that loses itself at once. p96

The great yellow days circled by uncounted . . . p105

How deep our sleep last night in the mountain's heart, beneath the trees and stars, hushed by solemn-sounding waterfalls and many small soothing voices in sweet accord whispering peace! And our first pure mountain day, warm, calm, cloudless-how immeasurable it seems, how serenely wild! I can scarcely remember its beginning. Along the river, over the hills, in the ground, in the sky, spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm, new life, new beauty, unfolding, unrolling in glorious exuberant extravagance-new birds in their nests, new winged creatures in the air, and new leaves, new flowers, spreading, shining, rejoicing everywhere. p109

Beautiful passages like this (above) are a dime a dozen in John Muir's writings. I will stop quoting them here and just read. He is inspiring with every word.

I can't help it -

. . . above the water, beneath the leaves and stars-everything still more impressive than by day, the fall seen dimly white, singing Nature's old love song with solemn enthusiasm, while the stars peering through the leaf-roof seemed to join in the white water's song. Precious night, precious day to abide in me forever. Thanks be to God for this immortal gift. p114

I therefore concluded not to venture farther, but did nevertheless. p127 (I love him!)

(Half Dome) A large and imposing pulpit for so small a preacher. (A grasshopper) p133

The story of sensing his friend in Yosemite starting on p134 is a testament to God, and Muir's tender and sensitive spirit.

(Describing a hermit he met among the Sequoias)
. . . life's noon the meanwhile passing unnoticed into late afternoon shadows. Then, health and gold gone, the game played and lost, like a wounded deer creeping into this forest solitude, he awaits the sundown call. p210

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. p311 (One of my already favorite John Muir quotes.)

[Michaelschnell]

“Any fool can destroy trees…God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand straining leveling tempests and floods; but he cannot save them from fools-only Uncle Sam can do that.”

“Why, I am richer than Harriman. I have all the money I want and he hasn’t.

[Honey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a beautifully written book. The imagery, the adventure and the humor and delight in nature were some of the things I liked about it.

[Rachel Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

“‘There,’ said I, addressing my feet, to whose separate skill I had learned to trust night and day on any mountain, ‘that is what you get by intercourse with stupid town stairs, and dead pavements.’”

[Shiloh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes his book read like a 3 when he was describing bird or tree species, and other times it read like a 5 when when describing his growing up, his inventions, the first time he saw Yosemite valley, or some of his other adventures. Regardless he was an extraordinary man who led an extraordinary life and seemed to connect with the wild like no other.

[Sharif Nabhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the great great great great great (probably +/- 1 or 2 more) grandson of this man. One of my greatest inspirations for my environmentalism and caring about what the world has to offer without destroying it. I read this in middle school and everything John Muir writes about is still prevalent to this day, and boy would he be upset with the state that we left this world in. Seeing Muir Woods for the first time in person, taking a picture of the sign that is my mother’s maiden name, it is surreal that his blood runs through my veins (or genes idk I’m not a scientist). I can’t wait to visit Muir Glacier, hopefully before it melts away, and the coolest part about this man to me, at least one of them, was his friendship to my favorite US president of all time, Teddy Roosevelt. I need to read this again very soon and everything else he has written!

[Ginebra Lavao Lizcano · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hope I can come back to this book in a few years and love it more as language barriers have stopped me from deeply engaging into Muir’s writings. Still, it is a beautiful philosophy towards Nature and he shall be credited for it. I am impressed at how he managed to live 76 years on mostly bread and tea. One day I shall honor him and get into the wild to sleep under the sky, without a sleeping bag or anything else than myself. I’ll toast to him with a good piece of hard bread.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Muir is otherworldly.

[Harold Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am often asked for a recommendation of what among Muir's writings, or writings about him, one should first read. After spending more than 30 years appreciating both his writings and most of the books about Muir that have been published during that time, and after ten years editing the John Muir Exhibit online, I can only turn to the same book that originally enthalled me with John Muir: The Wilderness World of John Muir, edited by Edwin Way Teale.

This book was edited by someone who was himself an able naturalist and nature-writer, and therefore someone who could understand Muir in a way that most academics, whether professors of literature or historians, cannot. Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980), has been ranked as a nature writer with been ranked with Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, as well as John Muir himself. His honors include being elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, receiving the John Burroughs Award in 1943, and the Pulitzer Prize in 1966. He was the author of 32 books. Teale's sympathy for Muir's message is shown in the book's Dedication page, which is "Dedicated to The Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, The National Parks Association, and all those who are fighting the good fight to preserve what John Muir sought to save."

This book serves as both an anthology of the very best of Muir's writings, and also a biography, compellingly provided by Teale.

The biographical value of this work is often under-stated, even by the publisher. The book is typically viewed as an anthology, and indeed it is, primarily; but it also contains a wealth of biographical information, far more than the typical anthology.

Teale commences his book on John Muir with an authoritative 10-page Introduction, that not merely identifies the key events in Muir's life, but provides an assessment and perspective of how Muir stacks up with other nature writers. He provides facts you won't find elsewhere: "While visiting friends, Muir sometimes would talk four hours at breakfast." Teale, writing in 1954, was able to talk with several people who knew Muir personally. He noted that everyone he talked to had a different view of which phase of natural history held first importance in Muir's mind. Some thought it was trees; another thought it was geology, another plants. Teale points out the fourth view, probably the nearest right of all: "... the whole interrelationships of life, the complete rounded picture of the mountain world. Today, Muir probably would be called an ecologist." Teale 's assessment of Muir as an "ecologist" pre-dates the "ecology movement" of the 1970s by at least 15 years. Teale admirably tells of the scope of the places, glaciers, plants, and animals named after him, and Muir's contributions to science and conservation. Although public appreciation for Muir has grown dramatically since Teale's book was first published in 1954, The Wilderness World of John Muir still provides the best introduction to Muir's life and writings.

Following the admirable Introduction, each of the 51 excerpts from Muir's writings commences with a preface by Teale, of up to a page in length, presenting in chronological order the story of Muir's life, and putting each of Muir's writings into context.

Although serving as a biography, the Wilderness World is, in fact, primarily a superb anthology. Rather than simply re-printing the full text of such of Muir's works as The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, My First Summer in the Sierra, Travels in Alaska, Our National Parks , and the Journals, Teale provides short snippets from the best of Muir's writings, arranged into seven broad categories:

I. Memories of Youth - reprints Muir's writings about his boyhood in Scotland, life on the Wisconsin Farm, seeing immense flocks Passenger Pigeons, nearly dying of choke-damp while digging a well, his inventions, and his enrollment at the University of Wisconsin.

II. University of The Wilderness - Excerpts from A Thousand Mile Walk, including people by the way, camping among the tombs of Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, and Muir's visit to Cuba and New York.

III. The Range of Light - Muir's adventures in the Sierra, including his first glimpse from Pacheco Pass and crossing the bee pastures of the Central Valley, his first visits to the High Sierra, climbing on the brink of Yosemite Falls above the Valley, tributes to wildlife including bears and grasshoppers, and his telepathic experience sensing the presence of his former University Professor Butler in the Valley.

IV. The Valley - Muir's glorious tributes to Yosemite Valley's waterfalls, the water ouzel, the earthquake, and Ralph Waldo Emerson's visit.

V. Forests of the West - Including Muir's adventure high atop a Douglas fir during a wind-storm, and writings about Silver Pine, the Douglas Squirrel, Sequoia, Nevada Nut Pines, and Muir's clarion call to protect the forests, "Any Fool Can Destroy a Tree."

VI. Glacier Pioneer - Muir's discovery of the Sierra glaciers, his climb of Mount Ritter, his perilous night on Mount Shasta, and his travels in Alaska, including his discovery of Glacier Bay and his adventure with Stickeen.

VII. The Philosophy of John Muir - excerpts from many scattered sources focusing on Muir's views on mankind's relationship to Nature. For many, this is the favorite part of the book, the part one returns to again and again for inspiration.

Despite this, the book does have some failings. The book belies the importance of Muir's family and friends, which becomes so evident upon reading his extensive correspondence. Nor does the book do more than barely mention some important places in Muir's life, such as his global travels to such places as the glacial mountains of Europe, the forests of Siberia, the Himalayas and forests of India, Australian and New Zealand forests, and, the fulfillment of his life-long dream, his last trip to see the forests of South America and Africa. The book emphasizes Muir's appreciative writings about Nature, and only briefly mentions the conservation battles which consumed so much of his life, including his long campaign to protect Hetch Hetchy. To obtain a whole picture of Muir, the reader will need to also read another work about Muir's conservation campaigns, such as Roderick Nash's chapter on "John Muir: Publicizer" in Wilderness and the American Mind, Stephen Fox's John Muir and His Legacy: The American Conservation Movement, or John Muir and the Sierra Club: The Battle for Yosemite by Holway R. Jones.

Since the book was originally published in 1954, it is not informed by some of the more recent research resulting from Muir's unpublished journals and correspondence, published in the John Muir Papers in 1980. Given the popularity of this book, fifty years after its first publication, the publishers should consider a second edition, again using a nature writer rather than a literary critic or historian to update the book.

Overall, in this book Muir comes alive, as someone who can can at once write inspiringly and poetically about trees, storms, mountains, glaciers, and forests, but yet also show the attention to detail of an analytical scientist. Muir is revealed as adventurer, a lover of nature, a person who can still excite the imagination of readers. As Teale concludes, "Rich in time, rich in enjoyment, rich in appreciation, rich in enthusiasm, rich in understanding, rich in expression, rich in friends, rich in knowledge, John muir lived a full and rounded life, a life unique in many ways, admirable in many ways, valuable in many ways.... In his writings and in his conservation achievements, Muir seems especially present in a world that is better because he lived here."

August, 2004

[Ciahnan Darrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a minister for a number of years, and an avid reader of theology. I no longer serve in that capacity, read theology, or claim the Christian faith, but there is a great resonance between The Wilderness World and theology, in the fervency with which they declare their orthodoxies, in the ecstasies they achieve, and the means by which they achieve them. Muir admits no doubt in his faith in the intrinsic value, healing, and propaedeutic qualities of nature, and his expression of these creeds at times recalls those found in the Psalms, the book of Daniel, Mathew, John, Paul's epistles, and Jude, notes likewise audible in James Baldwin's Go Tell It On The Mountain, and in the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau.

For this reason Wilderness is best picked up and dipped into rather than read straight through. The word 'Ecstasy' comes from the Greek 'ekstasis', which signifyies a state in which someone or something has been displaced from its proper position—it is a rupture of signification creating a state which cannot be sustained. Language depends on order, control, and specificity, elements which nature denies, forcing us to recognize our smallness, and live outside the world we have created for ourselves.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know much about John Muir before I read this, just that he had something to do with the Sierra Club, and so must've been an outdoorsman. What an fascinating guy! As a young man, he was an inventor. Among other things, he made an alarm clock that tilted his bed and dumped him on the floor! He walked from Wisconsin to Florida, he regularly camped with almost no supplies--certainly not the things we think of as necessary for survival today. He was an amazing observer of wildlife--Jane Goodall of the squirrels and birds. And he wrote of activities and places I'll probably never do or see. This is an exotic American adventure story written by a man who was truly the hero of his own life.

[Kevin McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muir's almost shocking commitment to the wilderness is incredible to read. Nowadays, we would probably call someone like him crazy; but in reading his thoughts and observations from years in the woods, it's hard not to wonder if we're the crazy ones for living so much of our lives in ignorance of nature. If nothing else, reading John Muir will tempt you with the call to get out into the wild: "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."

[Dina · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Muir's writing is exquisite. His descriptions of Nature and natural phenomena are so passionate that you can't help but take more notice of the world around you and go out to enjoy what Nature has to offer.

[Marjorie Ploeger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Putting my reaction to this book into words that give it justice is difficult when it contains so many of my feelings toward our society's lost connection with nature. As humans we are connected and affected by mother nature more than we may realize, and need her therapeutic care to deal with the vicissitudes of life. Additionally, as a society we have become so indoctrinated with the idea only individuals that leave a mark in this world live purposeful lives, that we have lost sight of the powerful action of not leaving a footprint. The consequences of such a lost connection can now be seen manifesting in our society's mental health issues, polluted oceans, overproduced meat sources, and littered lands. On a positive note, this book is simply an inspiring read for any individual that has found a home in the woods or needs pushing to do so. I'll admit, the first 50 pages are slow moving. But once the ground is set you'll be inspired to get your feet dirty and leave civilized notions behind. If you can't take my word for it, take John Muir's, a true mountaineer,

"Tell me what you will of the benefactions of city civilization, of the sweet scrutiny of streets - all as part of the natural upgrowth of man toward the high destiny we hear so much of. I know that our bodies were made to thrive only in pure air, and the scenes in which pure air is found. If the death exhalation that brood the broad towns in which we so fondly compact ourselves were made visible, we should flee as from a plague. All are more or less sick; there is not a perfectly sane man in San Francisco."

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."

[Brian Gormley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 out of 5. I enjoyed this book - edited highlights of Muir’s writing. Having struggled to finish Travels in Alaska by the same author, it was a joy to read a book that was well curated, and where the pieces were chosen specifically for being of interest or particularly well written. (The book notes that Muir never tired of talking of glaciers - and in Travels in Alaska he’s a bit of a glacier bore!).
Muir’s early life is fascinating - he endured a lot of hardship from his father. His inventiveness, persistence, mental and physical toughness, and his incredible work ethic got him to University and kept him going through startling physical challenges in life. It’s unclear to me where his income came from - not that he needed much, as he appears to have existed on stale bread and tea. The book covers his early life, his walk through the United States after University, and his time in Yosemite, the Sierras and Alaska. Some of the stories are absolutely gripping - Stickeen is one story (of his travels with a small terrier called Stickeen, across crevasse bridges on a dangerous glacier) that had me on the edge of my seat.
I had never heard of John Muir until relatively recently, and then his name seemed to pop up repeatedly. As this book is from his writings, it gives an insight into Muir’s thinking, but not much analysis or commentary. It also leaves out major aspects of his life - like his family life, and his later life in Martinez. I would have liked to learn more about his meeting with Theodore Roosevelt and the setting up of the National Parks. I may have to pick up a Biography for more on this fascinating character.

[Jasmine Shadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confess that this book was a little difficult to review. I vacillated between three and four. Only because there were some spots that were rather dry and drug on a little further than I felt was needed. However, I truly appreciated Muir's wonder of the natural world. I also appreciated that he acknowledged the wonder of it all in the Creator. He even found wonder in an earthquake. There were a few chapters that I found a little on the dry side. There are also a few things in his philosophy that I found a little extreme as well as a little off. However, I would still recommend the reading of this book. The beginning chapters I know threw some reviewers off. It was more about his childhood than his wilderness adventures. However, I believe that the person that compiled all of this together felt that needed to be included to help us understand where his love of the natural world came from and how it developed.
There were so many times that I wished I could have walked beside him to take in what he was able to view. There were also a few times that I was very glad I did not accompany him. Yes there were a few times that he was lucky to have made it out unscathed. It is just wonderful to pick up a book describing the wonders and awes of nature and having the author include the God that created said nature. I will read this again.

[T.J. Burr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful Archive of Wilderness Experiences

I admire how John Muir raises the wilderness experience to a spiritual and philosophical level. It was something I could identify with from my own adventures in the wild. If you feel that your church (place of worship) occurs when you are in touch with nature, then you will appreciate John’s perspectives. Even though I enjoy and respect all of our wild places, I must admit that John Muir went deeper into the woods than I have ever ventured. We are fortunate that he spent some of his precious time writing about his wilderness world so it could be shared with everyone wise enough to read it. Sadly, if John Muir was alive today, he would be appalled at the way the natural areas of the world are under siege. I hope we can save enough natural areas in big enough tracts so anyone able to and willing to venture to a wild place can experience it firsthand. If you enjoy reading stories about people passionate about the wilderness and outdoor recreation opportunities, you may also enjoy reading Rocky Mountain Adventure Collection, The Adventures of a Colorado Mountaineer.

[Matthew Boak · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I purchased this book I knew that I can sometimes struggle keeping focused on reads that are very descriptive, but I knew what I was in for with this one. This collection of pieces and parts of all Muir's books acts as a great starting point for anyone who is interested in learning more about Muir's writings. There are selections from the beginning of his writing career all the way to the end. You can tell how much Muir appreciates and loves nature through the ways in which he recounts his adventures and his descriptions of both landscapes and animals. While I sometimes had a difficult time keeping my attention reading about his description of landscapes, rock formations, topographical features, etc., I really enjoyed his descriptions of animals and plants. He talks about them just as he would a human, which really lends credence to just how much he cared for all life.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Muir hated the time he had to spend locked inside to laboriously write. He hated it. Apparently he struggled sentence by sentence. Giving this book a bad rating feels like the worst blasphemy known to man, because he is a hero in the capital-letters- BOLDest-font-available definition of HERO. After being forced to stay inside writing once in Oakland for 10 months, he almost died by falling off a cliff, and then punished himself by sleeping not on the fragrant forest floor with pine needles cushioning his weary head after a concussion, but on a cold hard boulder. It stopped his shaking, for sure. I just could tell it did not come naturally to him, and his words left me cold. I could envision what he was describing sometimes, and I felt nothing. Much of the time I reread his words, and thought ‘yes there are nouns, verbs, adjectives, but this is nonsense’. It is hard to write about nature’s beauty, poets do it much better, which is why I choose photos to share what I see and experience. There are many writers who know how to write a sentence, and he is not one of them. Sometimes his old fashioned language was charming, but strange. Auroras as "soldiers?"

Examples:

“How long these glad, eager soldiers of light held on their way, I cannot tell…”

“My bed was two boulders, and as I lay wedged and bent on their up- bulging sides, beguiling the hard cold time in gazing into the starry sky…”

“had these lively auroral fairies marched across the fjord on the top of the bow instead of shuffling along the under side of it, one might have fancied they were a happy band of spirit people on a journey.”

I think he loved nature and trees and wilderness so much, and it was such an unusual state to be in his time, that he tried too hard to appeal to his contemporaries. He used the word “noble” as many times as Annie Dillard uses “intricate” in her writing, and one works and the other doesn’t for me. It is a personal thing and I obviously feel guilty about it, I wanted to love this, I have tried before, and this time made a herculean effort to at least be open to what he was describing even if I didn’t get chills or catch my breath or have to stop and savor his words. I was expecting him to be able to do what Dillard did in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek or Nelson in the Island Within, both of which blew my mind, stunned and astonished me, and made me go outside and see differently, see and feel and be alive and living. In short, I expected a mystic’s words, but we got a dry biology tour, and that is good too; it saved a lot of wilderness by convincing the people not like me to his point of view. So hero, hero, hero.

Here is what I liked:
• He climbed a tree during a storm to listen to the sounds a forest makes!
• He knew it was crazy to get to the absolute edge of a cliff at Yosemite Falls but stuffed bitter leaves in his mouth to prevent “giddiness.”
• He describes a beautiful clearing full of wildflowers and a bear as “a place for angels, one would say, instead of bears,” which inspires the opposite thought in me. If that is not pandering to his audience….
• “I’m glad that I am not great enough to be missed in the busy world.”
• A waterfall seeming to be like a “comet” originating from the heart of the mountain. His words were “at the top of the fall they seemed to be bursting in irregular spurts from some throbbing mountain-heart.”
• One of my favorite places in the world is named Ouzel Lake and Ouzel Falls in rocky mountain national park, so I did enjoy the chapter about water ouzels or water thrush. They were his favorite bird, and they had a wonderful little song that they seemed to continue no matter what, earthquakes, and storms, diving into water for food, and then continuing the song as if there was no interruption. This is a cool bird, can swim underwater with “celerity” and is the only one that will dive into a fast rushing stream and not be carried away. I think Muir identified with its fearlessness
• I can’t decide if I like this sentence: “one wild winter morning, when Yosemite Valley was swept its length from west to east by a cordial snowstorm, I sallied forth to see what I might learn and enjoy.” I do like sallying forth myself, so this might be a keeper.
• Muir was disappointed to meet Emerson, kept wanting the old (at 68) man to sleep out under the stars in under the trees, quoting Emerson back to himself, “come listen to what the pine tree saith,” and then ridiculing Emerson’s companions who kiboshed the idea. Dude, the guy was 68 and it was April 1871, not exactly Cancun in the middle of summer.
• I liked a vision he painted about an earthquake, his first, in Yosemite Valley where in the moonlight he could actually see a large rock formation break off and tumble. That is very contemplatible.
• “The world needs the woods and is beginning to come to them. But it is not yet ready for storms.” It is true that if you are caught out in a storm, sometimes the fear of death makes everything that more powerful, and immediate and present. But he also thought that time would come also, and I am a little sad that it did not. I have seen some great storms, but definitely not up a tree, and in shelter. I believe him, though. I once watched a storm from canyonlands that was in the distant Henry Mountains, watched as the clouds formed, and when they left, there was enough snow for me to see deposited on the mountains, so it could have been an hour or more I was transfixed there on a rock, mindless. I get it.
• “we all travel the milky way together, trees and men…”

[Megan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book long ago when I bought it on a trip to Powell’s. I thought it would be inspiring to read on a train trip home...however I did not make it far. I finally finished it this year while trying to make my way through my to be read stack. It still took me quite a long time to finish. I think I would have looked reading one of John Muirs books instead of this which is an organized collection of a few selections in themes. It was hard to pick back up because it wanted a through story. Muir’s writing is also beautiful but hard to read at the end of a long day. It did inspire me to try and spend more time enjoying God’s beautiful creation.

[Tristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muir’s anthropomorphization of nature brings the reader closer to nature’s actors and their similarities to people. While the railroads were being laid and gold was discovered in the hills, the fierce junipers were holding firm against the bellowing winds (and explorers).

Muir’s observant tone is approachable for the reader, as his goal is not to explain how nature functions; in actuality, he is watching it unfold himself. His observations at times surprise him, this transparent rhetoric being comforting for an audience that perhaps has not explored wild landscapes: We are witnesses to the grandeur of one of the last refuges from man in real time with the author

[Clark Slajchert · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite lines:

“John Muir, faring in to the wilderness unarmed and alone, was the man unafraid. He was unafraid of danger, of hardship, of wilderness, of being alone, of facing death. He was unafraid of public opinion. He was unafraid of work and poverty and hunger. He knew them all and he remained unafraid.”

“…warned that I must play at home in the garden and the backyard, lest I should learn to think bad thoughts and say bad words. All in vain.”

“I then chanced to be stopping at the house of a friend. But when the storm began to sound, I lost no time in pushing out into the woods to enjoy it.”