Author: John Muir / Year: 1838 - 1914 / Genre: AutoBiography The Mountains of California by John Muir recounts the author's exploration of the Yosemite Valley, Mount Whitney, the famed Sequoia forests and King's Canyon among other places of immense natural beauty. Written in his characteristic zestful style, with a deep understanding and respect for nature, the book is a treasure trove of geography, geology, botany, biology and sheer love of the magical planet we live in. His descriptions of the flora, fauna and magnificent scenery around him are amazing word pictures that bring this fabulous landscape to life for the reader. In The Mountains of California, Muir recounts his visits to the Cascades Peaks – Mt St Helens and Mt Shasta. The original edition includes some wonderful illustrations of trees, glaciers, insects, plants and several maps of the Yosemite Valley. His intrepid mountaineering skills, the hardships he endured in this harsh and lonely landscape, punctuated only by crystal clear lakes and wonderful native species of plants and animals are described with great skill in the book. His early views on destruction of indigenous species and their transformation into orchards and pastures for domestic animals are well documented here.
