What do you think?
Rate this book
John James Audubon
Traces the life of Audubon and discusses the development of his painting and study of birds
- GenresNonfictionBiographyBirds
176 pages, Hardcover
Published April 6, 1987
About the author
John Burroughs
945 books175 followersIn 1837, naturalist John Burroughs was born on a farm in the Catskills. After teaching, and clerking in government, Burroughs returned to the Catskills, and devoted his life to writing and gardening. He knew Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir and Walt Whitman, writing the first biography of Whitman. Most of his 22 books are collected essays on nature and philosophy. In In The Light of Day (1900) he wrote about his views on religion: "If we take science as our sole guide, if we accept and hold fast that alone which is verifiable, the old theology must go." "When I look up at the starry heavens at night and reflect upon what is it that I really see there, I am constrained to say, 'There is no God' . . . " In his journal dated Feb. 18, 1910, he wrote: "Joy in the universe, and keen curiosity about it all—that has been my religion." He died on his 83rd birthday. The John Burroughs Sanctuary can be found near West Park, N.Y., and his rustic cabin, Slabsides, has been preserved. D. 1921.
According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress, John Burroughs was the most important practitioner after Henry David Thoreau of that especially American literary genre, the nature essay. By the turn of the 20th century he had become a virtual cultural institution[peacock term] in his own right: the Grand Old Man of Nature at a time when the American romance with the idea of nature, and the American conservation movement, had come fully into their own. His extraordinary popularity and popular visibility were sustained by a prolific stream of essay collections, beginning with Wake-Robin in 1871.
In the words of his biographer Edward Renehan, Burroughs' special identity was less that of a scientific naturalist than that of "a literary naturalist with a duty to record his own unique perceptions of the natural world." The result was a body of work whose perfect resonance with the tone of its cultural moment perhaps explains both its enormous popularity at that time, and its relative obscurity since.
Since his death in 1921, John Burroughs has been commemorated by the John Burroughs Association. The association maintains the John Burroughs Sanctuary in Esopus, New York, a 170 acre plot of land surrounding Slabsides, and awards a medal each year to "the author of a distinguished book of natural history".
Twelve U.S. schools have been named after Burroughs, including public elementary schools in Washington, DC and Minneapolis, Minnesota, public middle schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Los Angeles, California, a public high school in Burbank, California, and a private secondary school, John Burroughs School, in St. Louis, Missouri. Burroughs Mountain in Mount Rainier National Park is named in his honor.There was a medal named after John Burroughs and the John Burroughs Association publicly recognizes well-written and illustrated natural history publications. Each year the Burroughs medal is awarded to the author of a distinguished book of natural history, with the presentation made during the Association's annual meeting on the first Monday of April.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bur...
http://research.amnh.org/burroughs/
According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress, John Burroughs was the most important practitioner after Henry David Thoreau of that especially American literary genre, the nature essay. By the turn of the 20th century he had become a virtual cultural institution[peacock term] in his own right: the Grand Old Man of Nature at a time when the American romance with the idea of nature, and the American conservation movement, had come fully into their own. His extraordinary popularity and popular visibility were sustained by a prolific stream of essay collections, beginning with Wake-Robin in 1871.
In the words of his biographer Edward Renehan, Burroughs' special identity was less that of a scientific naturalist than that of "a literary naturalist with a duty to record his own unique perceptions of the natural world." The result was a body of work whose perfect resonance with the tone of its cultural moment perhaps explains both its enormous popularity at that time, and its relative obscurity since.
Since his death in 1921, John Burroughs has been commemorated by the John Burroughs Association. The association maintains the John Burroughs Sanctuary in Esopus, New York, a 170 acre plot of land surrounding Slabsides, and awards a medal each year to "the author of a distinguished book of natural history".
Twelve U.S. schools have been named after Burroughs, including public elementary schools in Washington, DC and Minneapolis, Minnesota, public middle schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Los Angeles, California, a public high school in Burbank, California, and a private secondary school, John Burroughs School, in St. Louis, Missouri. Burroughs Mountain in Mount Rainier National Park is named in his honor.There was a medal named after John Burroughs and the John Burroughs Association publicly recognizes well-written and illustrated natural history publications. Each year the Burroughs medal is awarded to the author of a distinguished book of natural history, with the presentation made during the Association's annual meeting on the first Monday of April.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bur...
http://research.amnh.org/burroughs/
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 6, 2020
4+ stars (liked a lot)
"The wonderful simplicity of the man was perhaps the most remarkable. His enthusiasm for facts made him unconscious of himself. To make him happy you had only to give him a new fact in natural history, or introduce him to a rare bird."
A comprehensive and concise 1902 biography of the renowned naturalist. It mainly focuses on his adult life and includes overviews of his career, his travels in America and Europe, his contacts with famous individuals in the course of selling his printed works, the characteristics of his nature drawings, and the contents of his published books. Highly recommended as a short introduction which could be followed up with more detailed books.
"He brought to the pursuit of the birds, and to the study of open air life generally, the keen delight of the sportsman, united to the ardour of the artist moved by beautiful forms."
"The wonderful simplicity of the man was perhaps the most remarkable. His enthusiasm for facts made him unconscious of himself. To make him happy you had only to give him a new fact in natural history, or introduce him to a rare bird."
A comprehensive and concise 1902 biography of the renowned naturalist. It mainly focuses on his adult life and includes overviews of his career, his travels in America and Europe, his contacts with famous individuals in the course of selling his printed works, the characteristics of his nature drawings, and the contents of his published books. Highly recommended as a short introduction which could be followed up with more detailed books.
"He brought to the pursuit of the birds, and to the study of open air life generally, the keen delight of the sportsman, united to the ardour of the artist moved by beautiful forms."
Want to Read
January 7, 2020Available free, here at Librivox: https://librivox.org/john-james-audub...
Narrated by Laura Caldwell.
Many thanks to Eileen for this information.
Narrated by Laura Caldwell.
Many thanks to Eileen for this information.
April 6, 2019
A super quick biography of one of America’s most renowned naturalist. Easy to follow and hits all the important bits of his life. And oh, what a life it was!
Read
March 4, 2017A short book. A quick overview and a good starter book on Audubon. Made me want to read more
April 24, 2021
An older but good short biography of Audubon. Its not comprehensive but it lays out his life in a concise and well-organized narrative. Its not a very full treatment but its a good place to start and its in domain.
July 16, 2024
Most interesting facts one finds out in this biography is that Audubon is French, so English was his second language.
His portfolio of finished bird sets was destroyed three different times. And he had to start over again all three times.
His portfolio of finished bird sets was destroyed three different times. And he had to start over again all three times.
December 3, 2019
I really enjoyed this life of Audubon, and it was nice to find out that he was a loving, God-fearing, generous (albeit absent-minded) person. Worth reading and not too long. Librivox.
December 14, 2023
Biografía básica del naturalista pionero en ornitología en América.
December 23, 2025
3 stars & 3/10 hearts. This was a short, interesting biography. I didn’t know much about Audubon, but this little book gives you a concise, sympathetic biography of his life.
A Favourite Quote: “‘Miss Scott came, black haired and black-dressed, not handsome but said to be highly accomplished[. She] improved in looks the moment she spoke, having both vivacity and good sense.’”
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “[Audubon’s] similes and metaphors were largely drawn from the animal world. Thus he says, ‘I am as dull as a beetle,’ during his enforced stay in London. While he was showing his drawings to Mr. Rathbone, he says: ‘I was panting like the winged pheasant.’ At a dinner in some noble house in England he said that the men servants ‘moved as quietly as killdeers.’ On another occasion, when the hostess failed to put him at his ease: ‘There I stood, motionless as a Heron.’”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “He sent for Audubon to tell him that all his birds were alike, and that he considered his work a swindle. ‘He may really think this, his knowledge is probably small; but it is not the custom to send for a gentleman to abuse him in one's own house.’”
A Favourite Quote: “‘Miss Scott came, black haired and black-dressed, not handsome but said to be highly accomplished[. She] improved in looks the moment she spoke, having both vivacity and good sense.’”
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “[Audubon’s] similes and metaphors were largely drawn from the animal world. Thus he says, ‘I am as dull as a beetle,’ during his enforced stay in London. While he was showing his drawings to Mr. Rathbone, he says: ‘I was panting like the winged pheasant.’ At a dinner in some noble house in England he said that the men servants ‘moved as quietly as killdeers.’ On another occasion, when the hostess failed to put him at his ease: ‘There I stood, motionless as a Heron.’”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “He sent for Audubon to tell him that all his birds were alike, and that he considered his work a swindle. ‘He may really think this, his knowledge is probably small; but it is not the custom to send for a gentleman to abuse him in one's own house.’”
April 12, 2022
Not a super entertaining read, but very informative if you are in the birdwatching/ecological community and have an interest in the forefathers of ornithology. Very interesting to see someone such as John James Audubon build up their knowledge from nothing, versus now when everything is just a google search away. This book definitely gave me a huge appreciation for Birds of America and I would LOVE to own a full-sized copy one day, knowing how much love, care, and possible fixation went into those artworks.
June 22, 2013
Enlightening book about the life of James Audubon. Painting and categorizing birds seemed to be his life's destiny. Amazing and interesting path. Well worth the read. Very telling about those of us who are called to follow a pursuit, regardless of the price.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews