Description
By John Muir. Discover the formative years of one of the world’s greatest naturalists and conservationists in this inspiring autobiographical classic.
In The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, legendary naturalist John Muir recounts his early life with warmth, vivid detail, and deep affection for the natural world that would later make him famous. Long before he became known as the champion of wilderness preservation and the voice behind America’s national parks, Muir was a curious and adventurous boy growing up first in Scotland and later on the rugged frontier farms of Wisconsin.
Written with poetic sensitivity and keen observation, this memoir follows Muir’s childhood experiences amid the fields, woods, rivers, and wild landscapes that shaped his lifelong love of nature. Readers accompany him through youthful adventures, hard farm labor, inventive mechanical experiments, and moments of discovery that awakened his fascination with the beauty and complexity of the natural world. His vivid recollections of birds, storms, forests, plants, and changing seasons reveal the early development of the passionate environmental vision that later inspired generations.
More than a simple autobiography, The Story of My Boyhood and Youth is a celebration of curiosity, perseverance, learning, and the joy of close contact with nature. Muir’s writing combines rich descriptive power with a sense of wonder that continues to resonate with readers today. The book also offers a valuable glimpse into immigrant life, frontier America, and rural nineteenth-century society.
This carefully restored reprint revives one of the great classics of American nature writing for modern audiences. Ideal for lovers of memoir, environmental history, outdoor adventure, and literary nonfiction, The Story of My Boyhood and Youth remains a timeless and deeply human account of the experiences that shaped one of the modern world’s most influential defenders of the natural world.
About the author: John Muir (1838–1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, explorer, writer, and conservationist widely regarded as one of the founders of the modern environmental movement. His writings and activism helped inspire the creation of America’s national parks, including Yosemite National Park, and he co-founded the Sierra Club in 1892.
CONTENTS
I. A Boyhood in Scotland.
Earliest Recollections—The “Dandy Doctor” Terror—Deeds of Daring—The Savagery of Boys—School and Fighting—Birds’-nesting.
II. A New World
Stories of America—Glorious News—Crossing the Atlantic—The New Home—A Baptism in Nature—New Birds—The Adventures of Watch—Scotch Correction—Marauding Indians.
III. Life on a Wisconsin Farm
Humanity in Oxen—Jack, the Pony—Learning to Ride—Nob and Nell—Snakes—Mosquitoes and their Kin—Fish and Fishing—Considering the Lilies—Learning to Swim—A Narrow Escape from Drowning and a Victory—Accidents to Animals.
IV. A Paradise of Birds
Bird Favorites—The Prairie Chickens—Water-Fowl—A Loon on the Defensive—Passenger Pigeons.
V. Young Hunters
American Head-hunters—Deer—A Resurrected Woodpecker—Muskrats—Foxes and Badgers—A Pet Coon—Bathing—Squirrels—Gophers—A Burglarious Shrike.
VI. The Ploughboy
The Crops—Doing Chores—The Sights and Sounds of Winter—Road-making—The Spirit-rapping Craze—Tuberculosis among the Settlers—A Cruel Brother—The Rights of the Indians—Put to the Plough at the Age of Twelve—In the Harvest-Field—Over-Industry among the Settlers—Running the Breaking-Plough—Digging a Well—Choke-Damp—Lining Bees.
VII. Knowledge and Inventions
Hungry for Knowledge—Borrowing Books—Paternal Opposition—Snatched Moments—Early Rising proves a Way out of Difficulties—The Cellar Workshop—Inventions—An Early-Rising Machine—Novel Clocks—Hygrometers, etc.—A Neighbor’s Advice.
VIII. The World and the University
Leaving Home—Creating a Sensation in Pardeeville—A Ride on a Locomotive—At the State Fair in Madison—Employment in a Machine-Shop at Prairie du Chien—Back to Madison—Entering the University—Teaching School—First Lesson in Botany—More Inventions—The University of the Wilderness.
Index
