The Wilder Muir: The Curious Nature of John Muir

John Muir was a giant for the environmental movement and well ahead of his time. Founder of the Sierra Club, instrumental in placing Yosemite Valley and Sequoia into the care of the National Park Service, he dedicated his life to botany and environmental concerns in the mid- to late-1800s. The Wilder Muir is a compilation of twenty-three episodes in chronological order edited by Bonnie Gisel. The chapters chronicle the life of Muir from his early botanic explorations to later environmental works. The chapters are excerpts from Muir’s journals and from newspaper articles and other writings about and by Muir, who was considered an environmental philosopher. They are not easy reads: the old-fashioned, archaic writing with long sentences and complex paragraphs is contrary to today’s easy, contemporary writing style. Occasional typos don’t help this volume. Each chapter is briefly introduced by editor Gisel, followed by Muir’s text. These chapters mirror the life of Muir from 1864 until his death in 1911. This is more of an academic volume than pleasure reading, with an epilogue, chapter-by-chapter notes, and an extensive bibliography. Each chapter is preceded by a full-page beautiful black-and-white engraving.