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Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir

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A portrait of the American naturalist draws attention to his role as a conservationist and his contributions as a crusader for national parks

364 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1978

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Linnie Marsh Wolfe

7 books1 follower

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5 stars
171 (36%)
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179 (38%)
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94 (20%)
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19 (4%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
Profile Image for Rick Wilson.
959 reviews414 followers
February 11, 2020
Have you ever gotten trapped in a conversation with a child? There’s a really specific situation I’m thinking about. Where the youngin’ is really excited about something that has happened. Let’s say a birthday. And since children typically don’t understand compelling storytelling, everything remotely related to that event tumbles out of their mouth. All the friends (who you obviously don’t know) are named. “Tony, Jimmy, Kyle, Aaron ....” etc etc. All the places they go. (And the fact they got to sit up front in the car on the way to the pizza place, which their parents typically don’t let them do, but this was a special occasion.) And the child goes wayyy too far into detail about their love of Transformers and how they now got three of them to really round out a collection that is really good but maybe not quite as good as it could be if they had all the blue ones or whatever. Unless that child is somehow related by blood, or you managed to score some LSD before and are now watching said child’s face lightly shimmer as their words turn into bubbles that are carried away by the wind, you’re going to likely find it quite taxing to carry on that discussion. In short, it’s a conversation with a lot of data, but very little compelling story.

That conversation is basically this book. Except I do really care about John Muir. This book is sloooooow. Like, describing how johns mother patches his slacks, slow. Talking about how his college dorm was decorated, slow. Talking in detail about changes made to a factory John worked at in the 1860s. At one point, I realized I had glazed over and zoned out for 10 or so pages, so I went back and didn’t remember a thing. I think it was a subconscious defense mechanism.

There’s a problem I’m discovering with some biographies. It’s that I think some biographers value too highly the effort put into research. Instead of gathering all the information they can, looking at a general arc to a narrative, and writing a compelling biography. They want to impress you with the fact they discovered what color the wallpaper was in so-and-so’s childhood home. I never felt like this book flowed, it was a collection of events jammed together in order to fill out a book. There didn’t seem to be any sort of real cohesion.

That being said, despite being the textual version of cold molasses, this book still might be worth a read if you really like nature, or John Muir. My rule of thumb for most things I read is that they “talk about something compelling or say something beautifully.” This book is not beautiful. No soaring prose leaps from the pages. But John Muir is one hell of a compelling human. And learning about him, I hope, has made me a marginally better human as well. It’s a shame it was so though to read.
Profile Image for James Vitarius.
Author 1 book14 followers
December 5, 2016
I purchased Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir while vacationing in Northern California. I found it in the gift shop at Muir Woods National Park, a place I recommend everyone visit. The book is a well-written, thoughtful biography of one of America's greatest conservationists. The author captures the passion of this remarkable figure, and the reader comes away with a full understanding of why protecting nature is so important to civilization.

With the recent US national parks centennial birthday celebration, and reminders in today's news of the continuing conflict between capitalism and conservation, the benefits of reading this biography are intangible. Speaking of intangible, my daughter recorded the running sounds of the stream running through Muir Woods, and I use a loop of this recording as an aid to peaceful sleep.
Profile Image for Anthony M Skelly.
25 reviews2 followers
August 17, 2020
I’m not sure what I found more irritating - the flowery language of the book, or the narrator’s intonations of that language on the audiobook I listened to. Don’t even get me started on the narrator’s insufferable Scottish accents. Nevertheless, the narrative flow of the book is consistent with the writings of John Muir, so although annoying I can respect it.

In June 2019, I got a permit to hike Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. Since going on a 15 mile hike through the wilderness by oneself is seldom a good idea, I befriended some college-aged kids at the trailhead who said they were waiting for their professor. They told me their professor was an expert on John Muir, who truthfully I knew nothing about at that point in time. The professor soon showed up wearing an outfit that appeared to be a nod to Steve Irwin, which somehow gave me a sense of security that I would be hiking with someone who knew what he was doing. I spent the next 8 hours picking his brain about John Muir, the history of the Yosemite, and the bigger picture of conservation. The conversation wet my appetite to read this book, a book which I found simultaneously informative and anticlimactic. I couldn’t get past the overwrought verbiage or unnecessary details used to describe John’s life and endeavors. Suffice to say, I wish I would have left my knowledge of John Muir to what I learned on my hike with the professor, who in spite of his outfit was infinitely less pretentious than the author of this book.
Profile Image for Suzanne.
505 reviews1 follower
June 19, 2008
I bought this book at the gift shop in Muir Woods outside of San Franciso. Walking among the coastal redwoods there I became fascinated with this man and his impact on the establishment of our National Park system. He was an environmentalist before there was a movement. It is a throughly well-researched book, a bit dry at times, but certainly recommended to those who love the outdoors and believe we are stewards of this planet.
Profile Image for Jocelyn.
662 reviews
June 21, 2020
Beautifully written and endlessly captivating. I love how Muir drew his energy from "tramping" in the wilderness; from nature in all its beauty, whether serene or tempestuous. And I'm grateful for the energy he spent to preserve it.
Profile Image for Jason.
12 reviews
April 21, 2017
The telling of John Muir's life is one of the most engrossing non-fiction books I've read; watching his whole life unfold from a young hardworking genius to a stalwart mountain man dedicated to the wilderness and his family. By the end, you feel like you could have known him and his death still saddens a hundred years later. He is someone to aspire to, even if one can never get close to his accomplishments.
Profile Image for Tom Schulte.
3,433 reviews77 followers
May 14, 2022
John Muir, famous as a U.S. naturalist, first came to my attention as a youthful philatelist through the 1964 five-cent stamp I collected. Muir was one the of the first Americans to realize that forests should be protected by government decree though I didn't then see him more as "a parks guy." In 1892, John Muir and a number of his supporters founded the Sierra Club to, in Muir's words, "do something for wildness and make the mountains glad."

My ken of the accomplished Scot hasn't really progressed much until I read this biography. It lacks in production value and engaging narration, I think it is a vintage audiobook elevated into Audible.

Starting from difficult (poverty) beginnings in Scotland, Muir from an early age showed mechanical genius and a love for animals. This reminds me of Temple Grandin. In America from further difficult life in Wisconsin, Muir as sawyer-mechanic becomes explorer, glaciologist and eventually public figure interacting with presidents (Teddy Roosevelt, Taft) charting a politically dangerous course to giving birth tu national parks in the U.S.
Profile Image for Donna Kremer.
430 reviews5 followers
April 18, 2024
I value land and nature like John Muir did, cringing every time a swath of land is cleared without regard for its beauty or living organisms upon it. We should thank him for his preservation efforts every time we enjoy a national park. It was surprising the amount of traveling he did across America and the world considering the lack of infrastructure in the 1800s. The land loved John in reciprocity, curing him of ailments with doses of contentment and serenity.
Profile Image for Liza Johnson.
91 reviews1 follower
July 17, 2023
Beautifully written Yosemite inspo/California core but tbh biographies just don’t hit for me
Profile Image for Avery Watkins.
282 reviews
September 25, 2020
What a fantastic life John Muir had in the wilderness! I learned so much and want to see all the places he did. The author was very thorough and did great work going through letters, newspapers, journals, and personal interviews to fill this book with information. I really really enjoyed this book!
Profile Image for Greg.
1,635 reviews96 followers
August 23, 2017
First published in 1945, this is the Pulitzer prize-winning biography of John Muir. The author, Linnie Marsh Wolfe, describing a conversation held with Muir's daughter in 1939 about the book, was told "Many people know of my father as a naturalist, but the world has never understood him as a man. I wish you would write of him from that point of view, and tell of his human relationships." This she has accomplished admirably. At the end, I closed the book with a deep sigh of affection for a man I never knew and wished I had.

We see Muir as a young man, being molded in the furnace of family affliction by a father who, only in his elder years learned to love unconditionally. We see the young man John as a brilliant inventor and mechanic, but soon deliberately leaving those things aside because he could see how, down the years, they would destroy the forests and mountains he loved so much, and didn't want to be a part of the destruction.

We watch as he grows and absorbs the learning and wisdom afforded by the wilderness to those who will really look and feel and see. And then we see him almost effortlessly merging with the man whom others would love unabashedly for his gentle humor and deep wisdom and understanding of the ways of the wilderness. And then we see him, in his middle years, turn his great capacity for love to his new wife, and later to his children, loving them without reservation the way he loved the wilderness, while maintaining his commitment to conservation. And they returned his love, completely and with deep understanding for the great passions that drove him, and became an intimate part of that great cause.

Finally, we see him age, without seeming to lose his great vitality, seemingly tied inextricably to the wilderness, until near the very end. And when that great light of his goes out, it seems to happen of a sudden, without much fanfare or distress, just the way he would have wanted. What a life! What a leader! What a man!
Profile Image for Russ.
199 reviews
August 10, 2019
Wolfe did create a full portrait of John Muir. She showed him as a conservationist, but also as a caring father.

She told stories of his early years that will be new to some readers, and you can watch his character develop through his childhood experiences.

She covers his mechanical genius, his subsequent injury, and his walk to Florida and eventual trip west.

Wolfe shows Muir as more than just a conservationist, but also as inventor, husband and father, geologist, naturalist and writer. And a presidential persuader.

She rounded out the portrait I had of Muir, and added depth to my understanding of my hero as a young man.
Profile Image for Nora.
22 reviews3 followers
July 21, 2008
I read this on a recent trip to Yosemite, and it really heightened my appreciation for the park to know a bit about the history of the attempts to conserve it. Muir was a true one-of-a-kind specimen, and his reading about his life was a breath of freash air--I think in the same way being outdoors can make us cube-dwellers rethink our priorities, so can reading about Muir's life, which got its vitality from being free to tramp through the wilderness. Anyone traveling to Alaska or interested about the transformation of America over history would also be well-served by this biography.
82 reviews1 follower
May 23, 2022
Quite a dense book. I was hoping for more of an overview of Muir’s life and workings, but this book was loaded down with detail, sometimes more detrimental to the story than beneficial in my opinion. Still interesting to learn more about the “father of the National Parks” and all of the battles Muir fought for our backcountry.

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.”
Profile Image for Richard Rhodes.
33 reviews2 followers
October 6, 2020
I listened to the audio book**
I really enjoyed this book, the author has done extensive research into the life of John Muir. The story starts before his birth with a rich detailed history of his family, continuing through the immigration to America, settling down in the west and the toils of being raised by a very strict demanding father that nearly worked his children to death. Muir escapes that life and seeks a solace and comfort in the wilds of nature.

Muir is quite a genius, an inventor in his youth, it is apparent that he could have had quite a successful career as an engineer or an inventor had he so desired or chosen. Instead, he chose to wander and give his life and time to nature and ensuring that history was passed down to others. His efforts on conservation have had tremendous and long lasting effects on the country and many people enjoy the National Parks that much of his work later benefited.

One of the best parts about this book to me was learning how much of a family man that John Muir was. So often men such as Muir are so caught up in living their own life that when children come they continue on and ignore their children. Muir, according to history was not such a person and rather gave up much of his old life and enjoyed his time with his children.

It should also not be overlooked the role that his wife played in his life, encouraging him to seek out the wilderness, to spend time rambling in the outdoors. After the children are older she encourages him to go back out adventuring, keeping up the ranch and home life while he is gone. While Muir certainly did a lot of work for the conservation of nature, his wife played a large role in his later success as well.
It is unfortunate that Muir was not able to take the time to write more into book format so that more of his work and writings could have been preserved and enjoyed. Moreover, this author did a great job in putting the story together in a way that is entertaining and rewarding for the reader.
415 reviews5 followers
July 12, 2022
With the giant Sequoias of Yosemite burning right now, a good time to read of John Muir, arguably America’s foremost conservationist/naturalist. This was written in 1945, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1946. Wolfe spent 22 years researching this book, interviewing relatives and friends who knew Muir personally, holding the role of secretary of the Muir Association, and editing his personal papers. She’s a real insider and presents a mostly positive perspective of Muir. I really didn’t know anything about him before reading this. Growing up in California, his name is everywhere in the forests and parks, but I was embarrassingly ignorant as to who he was. Who knew he was born in Scotland? Or that he grew up in Wisconsin in a rigidly religious family (his dad was a Disciples of Christ minister who forbade “graven images” in the home so there were no decorations or paintings or pictures or anything pleasant). That he went to the University of Wisconsin in the Civil War era (I couldn’t have even told he mostly lived in the 1800s). So, it was informative. It was also well-written, easy to follow prose. It was completely chronological. In fact the book is divided into sections based on years, so no awkward mental juggling of trying to figure out what Wolfe is talking about. Pretty good book if you want to know more about Muir.
Profile Image for John Nelson.
357 reviews4 followers
August 24, 2025
A competent but pedestrian retelling of the life of the pioneering conservationist. This book covers the main events of Muir's life, from boyhood on a hardscrabble Wisconsin farm, to breaking away from family and societal expectations to a wandering life as a naturalist and nature lover, through his apotheosis as the friend and colleague of philosophers and scientists, guide to Presidents, and America's (and perhaps the entire world's) foremost advocate of preserving the environment.

Where the book falls short lies in revealing the private man behind the public myths and accomplishments. Muir suffered through a difficult childhood as the eldest son of a demanding, frequently tyrannical, and most likely narcissistic father. This background left him flailing around, searching for an outlet for his mechanical ingenuity and passion for nature. Through his 20s he feared his limited background had left him too far behind to achieve his ambition of becoming a prominent natural scientist (with his primary field being geology, not biology as one might expect), before leaving that behind and cutting his own path as a pioneering essayist of the natural world.

All in all, I give the book three stars.
Profile Image for Kathleen Jones.
21 reviews
Read
February 15, 2022
This was such a delightful read! John Muir was such an amazing person, and so passionate about saving natural lands for posterity that he attracted a wide following among movers and shakers of his era.
The story starts with his ancestors in Scotland and his beginnings there and follows him throughout his life, settling with his family in the midwest but leaving as a young man to find his purpose, and ultimately seeing his awakening to the need to preserve wilderness.
Author Linnie Marsh Wolfe tells his story with passion, and annotates it with 15 pages of Bookmarks, many from Muir's own writings. Originally published in 1945, Wolfe based the story in large part on her personal interviews with those who knew and worked with Muir. Reprinted by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1978 - '84. Not available in my Sonoma County Library system, but I found it on AbeBooks.com.
Profile Image for Ronen.
56 reviews21 followers
May 31, 2018
Excellent biography of John Muir, upon finishing it I feel like I lost a dear soul friend...

Wikipedia, and all the superlatives I could find, fail miserably to convey the greatness of this giant of a man. A superb naturalist, outdoorsman, inventor, scientist, craftsman, writer, family man, friend, and on and on... A truly brilliant spirit, he described nature as "a conductor of divinity," and I believe he indeed was himself also.
713 reviews4 followers
October 14, 2019
Excellent biography of John Muir, the extraordinary man who helped create the national park system, the Sierra Club, and the conservation movement in general. The biography is very detailed, but never boring. I felt I got to know the man and the times he lived in. She liberally uses his own quotes as well of those who knew him well and includes pictures as well. An excellent read, especially as a preview to my trip to Yosemite.
Profile Image for Darin.
6 reviews8 followers
April 8, 2020
A remarkable story of a remarkable person

Having been living in Norther California for nearly twenty years, I feel like I am surrounded by the legend of John Muir. This book, an Easter egg in a documentary I watched, is a wonderful historic summary of John Muir’s life, accomplishments and the time he lived. For those that love the idea of National Parks and protected lands, this is an interesting read by a writer that had intimate access to journals of John Muir.
Profile Image for Callie.
773 reviews24 followers
April 11, 2021
Look at how long it took me to read this book! I would recommend reading a DIFFERENT biography of Muir.

This one has a very dated prose style and some definite racist moments.

I also felt she took some artistic license in imagining scenes from Muir’s life, ascribing emotions or thoughts which she would have no way of knowing.

She seems very thorough in her depiction though and I will credit her for that.

But please, if you want to read a biography of John Muir, look elsewhere.
43 reviews
April 16, 2021
This is one of the first audio books I could barely get through. It had so much detail on Muir’s life and covered the origins of his family. I felt that the word for word recollection of conversations he had with others including love notes to his lady were unnecessary to tell the story and who he was. I found my mind wandering to other things as at times it was incredibly boring. It’s a shame as I really do think Muir did amazing things for the conservation of our National Parks.
283 reviews1 follower
October 22, 2024
Long and detailed but very engaging as well. I learned a lot about someone I have heard of for many years but didn't really know. I also now know why my park ranger uncle Jerry was the way he was and how he became who he was. In many ways he was a clone of Muir. It's amazing to me how his life could be chronicled from letters, diaries and news stories. I don't think that it would be possible even in this "information" age. Very well done.
Profile Image for tami with an i.
23 reviews
January 8, 2025
very cool guy! i’m excited to share that i finished this an hour before i landed on california soil.

this books reads like it was written by an over enthusiastic 19th century fan girl but i’m not mad about it.

aside from muir subject matter includes glacial theory, prophets, botany, the unknown truths found in nature, the great american frontier, the innate desire to be remembered, white men being the only ones allowed to have any fun, etc.
416 reviews
November 15, 2016
While in California on a spring break trip, we stopped at the John Muir home in the Bay area. Neat little place and I decided I had to read some more about him. This is an older book written in the 1940's but unlike most older books, it still reads well today. He definitely had an impact on conservation and creation of National Parks and Monuments throughout the United States.
Profile Image for Erin (roostercalls).
325 reviews
May 2, 2018
I went into this book having read some Muir essays and knowing about him vis a vis Sierra Club history...but this book presents the complete and complicated picture of him as a human being, and made me fall for his mission, his spirit, and his way of entering nature. I'd be curious to re-read it as an adult.
Profile Image for Traci.
270 reviews1 follower
July 9, 2021
My brother told me this was my his favorite thing he has read about Muir. I was preparing for a trip to Muir Woods and his home in Martinez. I kept trying to love this book. I didn’t. It was slooooooow and dropped too many names of folks. I wanted a more concise biography. If that is what you’re looking for, steer away from this one.
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