passifloraincarnata's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
slow-paced
5.0
natetheworld's review against another edition
3.0
For my 2019 writing challenge and in preparation for the Pacific Crest Trail in 2020, I am spending the entire year reading and writing about books focused on a journey. For my fourth book, I dove into “Wild by Nature” by Sarah Marquis.
A Name for Everything
In hiking circles and among nature enthusiasts, John Muir is a god. His long walk to the Gulf of Mexico, time spent in the Sierra Mountain Range of California, and many more adventures cemented his name into eternity. What I found profound about the reading of his adventures through the American south was his ability to stop and call everything by its proper name. Each plant, tree, and flower that came into sight was named. To me, this is powerful. This is reverence on his part. This is stopping to pause and linger on the moment. This is doing your best to catalog everything in your mind because everything about nature is worthy of our respect.
Life Down Low
The constant cataloging meant Muir spent a great deal of time down low analyzing what was happening in between the blades of grass or between fallen leaves on the forest floor. For him, it was just as exciting as what was happening above. For most of us, this is just space used to get us from one point to the next. It shouldn’t be though. Once again, the space between trunks of trees is worthy of our admiration and contemplation. After reading this book, I promise to do a better job of fully being in the moment from the floor of the forest to the canopy of trees above my head.
Life after the Civil War
John Muir began his journey through the American south shortly after the Civil War. The south he encountered was in shambles trying to rebuild itself and come to terms with what had occurred. African Americans were free and were trying to build lives from scratch. As Muir walks, we are confronted with bias, prejudice, racism, and ignorance; some of which falls at the feet of our hero. As a reader, I did my best to take this in context. Still, his characterizations were hard for me to read and made me uncomfortable.
Legacy
Next year, when the Pacific Crest Trail reaches the Sierra’s, the trail will join the John Muir Trail. Then and there, I think I will begin to understand this man’s legacy and the impact he had on the conservation movement in the United States. Until then, all I can do is read his essays and use them to shape how I view this experience. Without a doubt, he has already taught me to slow down and more deeply understand the privilege of being able to stand in these beautiful spaces.
Be good to each other,
-Nathan
A Name for Everything
In hiking circles and among nature enthusiasts, John Muir is a god. His long walk to the Gulf of Mexico, time spent in the Sierra Mountain Range of California, and many more adventures cemented his name into eternity. What I found profound about the reading of his adventures through the American south was his ability to stop and call everything by its proper name. Each plant, tree, and flower that came into sight was named. To me, this is powerful. This is reverence on his part. This is stopping to pause and linger on the moment. This is doing your best to catalog everything in your mind because everything about nature is worthy of our respect.
Life Down Low
The constant cataloging meant Muir spent a great deal of time down low analyzing what was happening in between the blades of grass or between fallen leaves on the forest floor. For him, it was just as exciting as what was happening above. For most of us, this is just space used to get us from one point to the next. It shouldn’t be though. Once again, the space between trunks of trees is worthy of our admiration and contemplation. After reading this book, I promise to do a better job of fully being in the moment from the floor of the forest to the canopy of trees above my head.
Life after the Civil War
John Muir began his journey through the American south shortly after the Civil War. The south he encountered was in shambles trying to rebuild itself and come to terms with what had occurred. African Americans were free and were trying to build lives from scratch. As Muir walks, we are confronted with bias, prejudice, racism, and ignorance; some of which falls at the feet of our hero. As a reader, I did my best to take this in context. Still, his characterizations were hard for me to read and made me uncomfortable.
Legacy
Next year, when the Pacific Crest Trail reaches the Sierra’s, the trail will join the John Muir Trail. Then and there, I think I will begin to understand this man’s legacy and the impact he had on the conservation movement in the United States. Until then, all I can do is read his essays and use them to shape how I view this experience. Without a doubt, he has already taught me to slow down and more deeply understand the privilege of being able to stand in these beautiful spaces.
Be good to each other,
-Nathan
ericsutliff's review against another edition
3.0
Second guessing the three star review. I feel like if it was written by anyone else but the mythical figure of John Muir I wouldn’t give it the time of day. This journal of his walk along the east coast; which ultimately ended in a sea voyage to San Francisco was remarkably sparse. It blows me away that the most exciting things to him were plants he found. There was limited mention of the people he met on the journey, less the generous Floridian family that nursed him back to health.
This book is interesting for its legendary status, but the only part that really got me excited was his remarks on Athens “[Athens] is the most beautiful town I have seen on the journey, so far, and the only one in the South ” Pandering to me but I’m not complaining
This book is interesting for its legendary status, but the only part that really got me excited was his remarks on Athens “[Athens] is the most beautiful town I have seen on the journey, so far, and the only one in the South ” Pandering to me but I’m not complaining
katrinadreamer's review against another edition
3.0
I appreciated reading this because it's just John Muir rambling in the countryside with an immense appreciation for and knowledge of the flora. There are some breathtaking passages. There are also several racist remarks that are off-putting...he did this journey shortly after the civil war and the general opinion of African-Americans at the time was less than stellar. I didn't expect that.
beckyw97's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
tararhoseyn's review against another edition
3.0
Worth reading if you're interested in the racism of nineteenth-century American environmentalism.
glabeson's review against another edition
4.0
"If you are traveling for health, play truant to doctors and friends, fill your pocket with biscuits, and hide in the hills of the Hollow, lave in its waters, tan in its golds, bask in its flower-shine, and your baptisms will make you a new creature indeed. Or, choke in the sediments of society, so tired of the world, here will your hard doubts disappear, your carnal incrustations melt off, and your soul breathe deep and free in God’s shoreless atmosphere of beauty and love."
beardedreading's review against another edition
5.0
I wish I had the eyes of Muir. I wish I had the perfect words to describe nature like Muir did. But I don't. Instead, I have an appreciation for the man who was so intuned with his surroundings that he seemed to be a part of it. A part of the trees, a part of the mountains in which he climbed, the plants in which he gathered. A Thousand-Mile Walk is a beautiful journey in which you wish you were beside him, traversing, learning and experiencing.