The Wonder of It All: 100 Stories from the National Park Service

by Yosemite Conservancy (Editor)

Since the founding of the National Park Service in 1916, tens of thousands of NPS employees and volunteers have devoted themselves to preserving our public lands, which today number more than 400. Each person’s NPS career is unique, seasoned with daily duties, grand adventures, and everything in between! Yet there is one common each person has plenty of material for terrific stories about living and working in America’s most special places.

These 100 true stories from current and past NPS employees and volunteers make for an engrossing, funny, and often moving read, with something for everyone. The writers welcome visitors, ride the rails, collar caribou, reenact and make history, and every day face the mystery of wildness—including plenty of bears!—all for America’s public lands.

Featuring more than 100 photographs and stories from 80 different parks, monuments, and historic sites, stretching from the coast of Maine to American Samoa, The Wonder of It All is sure to inspire a new generation to cherish the natural and cultural resources that the National Park Service was born to preserve.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Nature, Essays

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2016

Reviews

[Carianne Carleo-Evangelist · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. I'm a huge National Parks nerd, which helps, but I truly think this is a book for everyone. Pegged to NPS centennial, this is an anthology of curated stories from people who visited, lived in and worked for the national parks written across all decades. of the parks' history. I love that it was a blind selection process and that there were stories from writers and regular people, most of whom I want to know more about. The Parks, of course, also played vital roles in the stories. National PArks bucket list just got longer.

[Sherri Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book with a lot of heart warming and amazing stories from some very amazing people that keep our national treasures alive and well.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of essays put together to celebrate the 100th birthday of the National Park Service. Each essay demonstrates the powerful impact of our parks.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the book is full of remembrances and stories from the dedicated folks who work or volunteer for NPS, it's not the exciting, page-turning stories I expected. I was hoping for daring rescues, dangerous wildlife encounters .... well, you get the idea ... but those are found in other books. Each story is just a page or two and some parks are represented more than once, while others, not at all.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is why I vote. This is why I will continue to fight for my beliefs. National Parks will be on the chopping block in the next four years. We must preserve these spaces for ourselves and future generations.

Quotable:

On a sign posted at the Minidoka National Historic Site.
"The Minidoka Relocation Center. One of ten American concentration camps established in World War II to incarcerate the 110,000 Americans of Japanese decent living in costal regions of our Pacific states. Victims of wartime hysteria. These people, two-thirds of whom were United States citizens, lived a bleak, humiliating life in tarpaper barracks behind barbed wire and under armed guard. May these camps serve to remind us what can happen when factors supersede the constitutional rights guaranteed to all citizens and aliens living in this country"

"We are part of the universe, not lords of it. If it perishes, we do too." -Janet Hutchison, League of Women Voters Member, 1993

"The world does not exist for my son or me or anyone else specifically. It is an impossibly complex wonder of biodiversity and relationships and processes among countless living and nonliving things. It happens. It breathes. It changes. We are privileged to be a part of it." - Jason Ransom, North Cascades National Park

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the 100 short personal essays were poignant and interesting although I found the last section forced and preachy. Make me really stop to think about my own experiences in our National Parks and Monuments ranging from humorous, scary, and emotional, to exhilaration. I look forward to more visits to these national treasures.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very short stories, some 3 pages long and a few only 1 page long, lack detail to convene much information at all. As a result, some were just boring and others left you wishing the author wrote a longer memoir. Overall I found the book very unsatisfying. Not bad just not worth reading.

[Jeanine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I a huge fan to the National Parks. The stories contained within this book, written by Park Rangers and Volunteers have fueled my desire to visit every park and spend more time with the wonderful people who keep our parks alive.

[Susan Kendrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the writing was not stellar, I really loved how it was a compilation of all these essays from folks who worked for or volunteered with the National Park Service. It was written for the centennial in 2016. I enjoyed it.

[J. Muro · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Didn’t finish the whole book. Stopped 3/4th of the page to finish and quit. It wasn’t my cuppa, which surprised me, for I had high hopes with this one? Maybe I will come back again?

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are lots of fun little vignettes in this book and anyone who enjoys the National Parks and National Monuments in the United States will find stories they can relate to in this book.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book has many stories by NPS employees. Some are funny and some are very touching, like the one about a vet with PTSD and how his job with the NPS saved him. Some are rather scary and yet funny,the one about the "Katmai Shuffle".

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was divided into seven sections, my favorites's being "Stories from the Field" and "Life-Changing Moments." Oh, and the BEARS! Any story that focused on the BEARS!