PDF My First Summer in the Sierra with Illustrations John Muir 9781940777023 Books

Product details Paperback 182 pages Publisher J Missouri; Illustrated ed. edition (October 17, 2013) Language English ISBN-10 194077702X

My First Summer in the Sierra with Illustrations John Muir 9781940777023 Books Reviews

• This is the first book of John Muir that I have read. I’ve read other naturalists/environmentalists, such as Henry David Thoreau, Joseph Wood Krutch, and Edward Abbey, but it seems that Muir is in a class of his own. I was stunned by his erudition. He knew the names of the animals, plants and rock formations in an area that he had never been before, including passing through several climatic zones, as he climbed in elevation. (I had to keep recalling that he was not carrying a guidebook, replete with full-color pictures of the plants he was observing.) His writing is infused with a deep reverence for the natural world… even a beautiful infectious unbridled enthusiasm to “do it all,” to savor as much as one possibly can of the natural world. I first became acquainted with his name more than 25 years ago, when I visited the magnificent redwoods that bear his name, just north of San Francisco. Tis a pity it took so long to read his actual words.
  
  Muir “hitched a ride,” that is, seized an opportunity and joined in the “old-fashioned” practice of transhumance. “Old-fashioned,” in that it is a practice in decline, defeated by the primacy of fences and “property rights.” But the practice of moving livestock to better grazing, in particular to higher elevations in the summer, has existed for thousands of years. In June 1869, he joined 2500 sheep, as they moved from the Merced valley in central California, and walked with them into the high Sierra Mountains, in the area of current day Yosemite National Park, and returned to the lowlands by the equinox. He did not have required duties – a professional shepherd, along with assistants – handled the “grunt work.” Three magnificent months to observe a country that had just been opened to exploration by the white man largely in the last two decades, thanks to the ’49 “Gold Rush.” Three months of living outside, largely without shelter, and “reading” only the natural world.
  
  I found his writing to be dense, like a fine chocolate bar, and could rarely read more than 15 pages at a time without taking a break to think about his observations. In one section, he contemplates the many different paths raindrops take. In another, he examines the lives of three very different creatures the bear, the grasshopper and the common housefly. For sure, he provides anthropomorphic characterizations. He has a keen geological “eye,” spotting signs of glacial action in prior times. Clearly his heart lies in the very high country of the Sierra, around Lake Tenaya. Somehow he knew about a flower called the cassiope bell, searched for it, and found it in profusion. It is wonderful nowadays to be able to see a picture of it on the internet, and understand immediately his enthusiasm. In yet another section, he relates his “telepathic” knowledge that his college teacher, Professor Butler, had just arrived in Yosemite.
  
  Muir does not like the sheep he has had to travel with, comparing them to locust, and at one point saying that he would rather herd wolves. He is also rather critical of the various Indian hunting groups that he encounters, always critical of their dirtiness. In general, he repeatedly praises the cleanliness of the natural world, but seems to be oblivious to the dirtiness of the sheep that are his companions.
  
  In the high country it is approximately two months of intense life between the melting of the snows and the arrival of the next frosts. On August 10, he says “Another of those charming exhilarating days that make the blood dance and excite nerve currents that render one unwearable and well-nigh immortal.” In another section, he says of Yosemite’s cathedral “Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fibre thrilling like harp strings, while incense is ever flowing from the balsam bells and leaves. No wonder the hills and groves were God’s first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord himself. The same may be said of stone temples.”
  
  Yes, at times his exuberance can be “over the top.” So be it, for it seems that he can see deeper than us average mortals. 5-stars.
• I bought this because I was tired of checking it out from my Library. The Book is wonderful and everyone with a love for the outdoors or just good writing should read it.
  
  It's this printing I have a problem with. The size of the book is awkward, and completely unnecessarily so because the blank margin space is huge. The print is big too, but it's also fuzzy and hard to read. Lots of wasted thick paper here (which will only make you feel guilty as you read about the beauty of the trees). All in all this feels similar to reading an instructional manual that was printed on a poorly calibrated home printer. There are other copies of this book available, I would recommend choosing one of them.
• First Summer in the Sierra was a delight to read. John Muir's diary is fascinating due to his capacity of describing the different landscapes along his route as one of the shepherds tending a big flock of sheeps the Yosemite River Valley and the High Sierra. To the accuracy of the geographical description he adds its evolution, its changes in flora and fauna distribution, the rythm of days and seasons, the variations in the color and the clouds. All this, added to his spiritual response, told in a poetic manner. His sketches, and the latter added photographs, are enriching in spite of the fact that I read the book in its edition.
• Bought this for my newly retired dad who finally has time to read now. He
  Loves the outdoors and they visit national parks on the regular. He’s about half way through and loves the story.
• I purchased the Gibbs Smith Hardcover because of it's awesome artwork, however like the person that posted the photo review my copy was marked up and smudged on the cover. I ordered a replacement thinking I must have just received a returned one, but the replacement was even worse. So buyer beware, if you order the Gibbs Smith Version you might receive a messed up cover.
• I first read this book in the '60s after I had already visited Yosemite. This new edition is a very nice piece of work, and it is really a great introduction to John Muir. For one who has traveled extensively in Yosemite territory it is a pleasure to see that country through Muir's eyes 100 or more years earlier.
• I have always wanted to read Muir. This style of writing is not for everyone - Muir goes to great lengths to use his senses to describe everything he encounters. I found those descriptions enlightening, detailed, and exhilarating. Some might find it monotonous, and I would understand that.
• It is a no-brainer for me to recommend this book as I love John Muir and live in the Sierra foothills close to all the places described. Having hiked some of the well marked trails on the John Muir trail it is amazing to think that he “trail blazed” without all the information and guidebooks available to us today. The book arrived as promised and service was excellent.