What do you think?
Rate this book
John Muir Ultimate Collection: Travel Memoirs, Wilderness Essays, Environmental Studies & Letters (Illustrated): Picturesque California, The Treasures ... Redwoods, The Cruise of the Corwin and more
This carefully crafted ebook: "JOHN MUIR Ultimate Collection: Travel Memoirs, Wilderness Essays, Environmental Studies & Letters (Illustrated)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents.
Table of Contents:
Picturesque California
The Mountains of California
Our National Parks
My First Summer in the Sierra
The Yosemite
Travels in Alaska
Stickeen: The Story of a Dog
The Cruise of the Corwin
A Thousand-mile Walk to the Gulf
Steep Trails
Studies in the Sierra
Articles and Speeches:
The National Parks and Forest Reservations
Save the Redwoods
Snow-Storm on Mount Shasta
Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park
A Rival of the Yosemite
The Treasures of the Yosemite
Yosemite Glaciers
Yosemite in Winter
Yosemite in Spring
Edward Henry Harriman
Edward Taylor Parsons
The Hetch Hetchy Valley
The Grand Cañon of the Colorado
Autobiographical:
The Story of My Boyhood and Youth
Letters to a Friend
Tribute:
Alaska Days with John Muir by Samuel Hall Young
John Muir (1838-1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American conservation organization.
Table of Contents:
Picturesque California
The Mountains of California
Our National Parks
My First Summer in the Sierra
The Yosemite
Travels in Alaska
Stickeen: The Story of a Dog
The Cruise of the Corwin
A Thousand-mile Walk to the Gulf
Steep Trails
Studies in the Sierra
Articles and Speeches:
The National Parks and Forest Reservations
Save the Redwoods
Snow-Storm on Mount Shasta
Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park
A Rival of the Yosemite
The Treasures of the Yosemite
Yosemite Glaciers
Yosemite in Winter
Yosemite in Spring
Edward Henry Harriman
Edward Taylor Parsons
The Hetch Hetchy Valley
The Grand Cañon of the Colorado
Autobiographical:
The Story of My Boyhood and Youth
Letters to a Friend
Tribute:
Alaska Days with John Muir by Samuel Hall Young
John Muir (1838-1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American conservation organization.
2912 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 28, 2015
201 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
John Muir
625 books1,438 followersJohn Muir was far more than a naturalist; he was a secular prophet who translated the rugged language of the wilderness into a spiritual calling that saved the American soul from total surrender to materialism. Born in 1838 in the coastal town of Dunbar, Scotland, Muir’s childhood was a blend of seaside wanderings and a brutal religious upbringing. His father, Daniel Muir, was a man of uncompromising faith who forced John to memorize the New Testament and most of the Old Testament by age eleven. When the family immigrated to the frontier of Wisconsin in 1849, this iron-fisted discipline continued on their farm. However, for the young Muir, the "Book of Nature" began to rival the Bible. He saw the divine not just in scripture, but in the black locust trees and the sun-drenched meadows of the midwest.
The pivotal moment of Muir’s life occurred in 1867 while working at a wagon wheel factory in Indianapolis. A tool slipped, piercing his cornea and leaving him temporarily blind in both eyes. Confined to a darkened room for six weeks, Muir faced the terrifying prospect of a life without light. When his sight miraculously returned, he emerged with a clarity of purpose that would change the course of American history. He famously wrote, "This affliction has driven me to the sweet fields. God has to nearly kill us sometimes, to teach us lessons." He immediately set out on a 1,000-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico, beginning a lifelong odyssey of exploration.
Muir eventually found his "true home" in California’s Sierra Nevada. To Muir, the mountains were not mere piles of rock, but "the range of light." He spent years as a shepherd and guide in Yosemite, living a life of extreme simplicity—often traveling with nothing but a tin cup, a crust of bread, and a volume of Emerson’s essays. His scientific contributions were equally profound; he defied the leading geologists of the day by proving that the Yosemite Valley was carved by ancient glaciers. While the state geologist, Josiah Whitney, dismissed him as a mere "shepherd," the world’s leading glaciologists eventually recognized Muir’s genius.
His transition from explorer to activist was born of necessity. Seeing the "hoofed locusts"—domestic sheep—devouring the high mountain meadows, Muir took up his pen. His landmark articles in The Century Magazine and his 1903 camping trip with President Theodore Roosevelt became the catalysts for the modern conservation movement. Under the stars at Glacier Point, Muir convinced the President that the wilderness required federal protection. This meeting laid the groundwork for the expansion of the National Park system and the eventual return of Yosemite Valley to federal control.
As the co-founder and first president of the Sierra Club, Muir spent his final years in a fierce philosophical battle with Gifford Pinchot. While Pinchot argued for "conservation" (the sustainable use of resources), Muir championed "preservation" (the protection of nature for its own sake). Though he lost the battle to save the Hetch Hetchy Valley from being dammed, the heartbreak of that loss galvanized the American public, ensuring that future "cathedrals of nature" would remain inviolate. John Muir died in 1914, but his voice remains ubiquitous, reminding us that "into the woods we go, to lose our minds and find our souls."
The pivotal moment of Muir’s life occurred in 1867 while working at a wagon wheel factory in Indianapolis. A tool slipped, piercing his cornea and leaving him temporarily blind in both eyes. Confined to a darkened room for six weeks, Muir faced the terrifying prospect of a life without light. When his sight miraculously returned, he emerged with a clarity of purpose that would change the course of American history. He famously wrote, "This affliction has driven me to the sweet fields. God has to nearly kill us sometimes, to teach us lessons." He immediately set out on a 1,000-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico, beginning a lifelong odyssey of exploration.
Muir eventually found his "true home" in California’s Sierra Nevada. To Muir, the mountains were not mere piles of rock, but "the range of light." He spent years as a shepherd and guide in Yosemite, living a life of extreme simplicity—often traveling with nothing but a tin cup, a crust of bread, and a volume of Emerson’s essays. His scientific contributions were equally profound; he defied the leading geologists of the day by proving that the Yosemite Valley was carved by ancient glaciers. While the state geologist, Josiah Whitney, dismissed him as a mere "shepherd," the world’s leading glaciologists eventually recognized Muir’s genius.
His transition from explorer to activist was born of necessity. Seeing the "hoofed locusts"—domestic sheep—devouring the high mountain meadows, Muir took up his pen. His landmark articles in The Century Magazine and his 1903 camping trip with President Theodore Roosevelt became the catalysts for the modern conservation movement. Under the stars at Glacier Point, Muir convinced the President that the wilderness required federal protection. This meeting laid the groundwork for the expansion of the National Park system and the eventual return of Yosemite Valley to federal control.
As the co-founder and first president of the Sierra Club, Muir spent his final years in a fierce philosophical battle with Gifford Pinchot. While Pinchot argued for "conservation" (the sustainable use of resources), Muir championed "preservation" (the protection of nature for its own sake). Though he lost the battle to save the Hetch Hetchy Valley from being dammed, the heartbreak of that loss galvanized the American public, ensuring that future "cathedrals of nature" would remain inviolate. John Muir died in 1914, but his voice remains ubiquitous, reminding us that "into the woods we go, to lose our minds and find our souls."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 26, 2021
SO long...was thinking I would find all these fantastic quotes from Muir, but found a lot of incredibly detailed text describing plants, trees, glaciers, etc., that was tough to get through. Did enjoy many of the stories -- but they sometimes seemed pretty sporadic amongst all the text-book type facts...
September 20, 2019
A classic in every sense. Get inside the mind of one of America’s greatest naturalist. I must read for the modern thinking outdoorsman.
December 18, 2019
I've read quite a bit of John Muir's writing, but this review is about one narrative essay from this collection--"The Hetch Hetchy Valley."
I'm really enjoying my $1.99 ebook, John Muir's Ultimate Collection, having recently read the essay "The Hetch Hetchy Valley." This essay chronicles his camping trip into the Hetch Hetchy in 1873, before the fight to keep the Sierra Nevada valley that is near Yosemite from being dammed and flooded for water for the San Francisco area. Muir later rewrote this essay as a plea to not destroy the valley, but the original version I read is more the early writing style of Muir: innocence, wonder, and reverence.
Muir decides to visit Hetch Hetchy during the first week of November, so there is some danger of snow. This, of course, is before satellite weather forecasting, so in his usual inimitable manner, Muir takes three loaves of bread for his food--one for the trip up, one for the trip back, and one for emergencies. He also has his blanket and a nice cup for his "complementary coffee"--Muir, the glamper! "Thus grandly allowanced, I was ready to enjoy my ten days' journey of any kind of calm or storm."
He decides to leave the trail and follow some grizzlies to achieve a short-cut in his route, which includes some adventure through the rough country. He's careful, of course, since he doesn't want to startle the bear on a narrow canyon path only wide enough enough for one! "At first I took [the path] to be an Indian trail, but after following it a short distance, I discovered certain hieroglyphics which suggested the possibility of its belonging to the bears," a mother and her cubs. Since the essay was written, readers, you can assume he survived that adventure. Hiking escalates to mountain climbing, all the while Muir describing the experience in his highly readable style that combines travelogue with objective, scientific observation as he adventures all day and then settles in for the night.
"Night gathered, in most impressive repose; my blazing fire illumined the grand brown columns of my compassing cedars and a few withered briers and goldenrods that leaned forward between them, as if eager to drink the light. Stars glinted here and there through the rich plumes of my ceiling, and in front I could see a portion of the mighty cañon walls, dark against the sky, making me feel as if at the bottom of a sea."
Muir discusses the history of the valley, its human occupation--and, yes, there is a snowstorm. Our intrepid traveler weathers it, and not alone. "I did not expect company in such unfavorable weather; nevertheless I was visited towards evening by a brown nugget of a wren."
This beautiful, descriptive narrative essay is a tribute to the beauty and glory of the natural world--and unfortunately, also a prescient eulogy to the now-inundated valley. This is Muir at his finest--the minimalist camper, the scientist and naturalist, and the priest of the forest cathedral.
I'm really enjoying my $1.99 ebook, John Muir's Ultimate Collection, having recently read the essay "The Hetch Hetchy Valley." This essay chronicles his camping trip into the Hetch Hetchy in 1873, before the fight to keep the Sierra Nevada valley that is near Yosemite from being dammed and flooded for water for the San Francisco area. Muir later rewrote this essay as a plea to not destroy the valley, but the original version I read is more the early writing style of Muir: innocence, wonder, and reverence.
Muir decides to visit Hetch Hetchy during the first week of November, so there is some danger of snow. This, of course, is before satellite weather forecasting, so in his usual inimitable manner, Muir takes three loaves of bread for his food--one for the trip up, one for the trip back, and one for emergencies. He also has his blanket and a nice cup for his "complementary coffee"--Muir, the glamper! "Thus grandly allowanced, I was ready to enjoy my ten days' journey of any kind of calm or storm."
He decides to leave the trail and follow some grizzlies to achieve a short-cut in his route, which includes some adventure through the rough country. He's careful, of course, since he doesn't want to startle the bear on a narrow canyon path only wide enough enough for one! "At first I took [the path] to be an Indian trail, but after following it a short distance, I discovered certain hieroglyphics which suggested the possibility of its belonging to the bears," a mother and her cubs. Since the essay was written, readers, you can assume he survived that adventure. Hiking escalates to mountain climbing, all the while Muir describing the experience in his highly readable style that combines travelogue with objective, scientific observation as he adventures all day and then settles in for the night.
"Night gathered, in most impressive repose; my blazing fire illumined the grand brown columns of my compassing cedars and a few withered briers and goldenrods that leaned forward between them, as if eager to drink the light. Stars glinted here and there through the rich plumes of my ceiling, and in front I could see a portion of the mighty cañon walls, dark against the sky, making me feel as if at the bottom of a sea."
Muir discusses the history of the valley, its human occupation--and, yes, there is a snowstorm. Our intrepid traveler weathers it, and not alone. "I did not expect company in such unfavorable weather; nevertheless I was visited towards evening by a brown nugget of a wren."
This beautiful, descriptive narrative essay is a tribute to the beauty and glory of the natural world--and unfortunately, also a prescient eulogy to the now-inundated valley. This is Muir at his finest--the minimalist camper, the scientist and naturalist, and the priest of the forest cathedral.
September 10, 2022
I love John Muir view on the natural world.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews