A Passion for Nature

The Life of John Muir

By: Donald Worster

Narrated by: Jim Frangione

"I am hopelessly and forever a mountaineer," John Muir wrote. "Civilization and fever and all the morbidness that has been hooted at me has not dimmed my glacial eye, and I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature's loveliness. My own special self is nothing".

In Donald Worster's magisterial biography, John Muir's "special self" is fully explored as is his extraordinary ability, then and now, to get others to see the sacred beauty of the natural world. A Passion for Nature is the most complete account of the great conservationist and founder of the Sierra Club ever written. It is the first to be based on Muir's full private correspondence and to meet modern scholarly standards. Yet it is also full of rich detail and personal anecdote, uncovering the complex inner life behind the legend of the solitary mountain man. It traces Muir from his boyhood in Scotland and frontier Wisconsin to his adult life in California after the Civil War and up to his death on the eve of World War I. It explores his marriage and family life, his relationship with his abusive father, his many friendships with the humble and famous (including Theodore Roosevelt and Ralph Waldo Emerson), and his role in founding the modern American conservation movement. Inspired by Muir's passion for the wilderness, Americans created a long and stunning list of national parks and wilderness areas, Yosemite the most prominent. Yet the audiobook also describes a Muir who was a successful fruit-grower, a talented scientist and world-traveler, a doting father and husband, a self-made man of wealth and political influence. A man for whom mountaineering was "a pathway to revelation and worship."

For anyone wishing to more fully understand America's first great environmentalist, and the enormous influence he still exerts today, Donald Worster's biography offers a wealth of insight into the passionate nature of a man whose passion for nature remains unsurpassed.

©2008 Donald Worster (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

The amazing life and mind of John Muir

What did you love best about A Passion for Nature?

I should have liked to have known him. An inspiring life dedicated to the natural world. humanity owes a tremendous amount of gratitude to John Muir

What does Jim Frangione bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Jim Frangione is the perfect narrator. His tone is likable and easy. Jim brings the listened into the story and one actually feels a part of it.

A true gem

What an amazing man. Thank you John Muir.

Great narration. Great content.

Need to get to Yosemite.

The Quiet Rise of John Muir

This book transported me to a realm of love and reverence for a man I knew so little about. It inspired me to get out into nature, connect with God, and see that there is more to life than the rat race.

Beautiful story and cause

Worster captures the life or Mr. Muir beautifully. Truly an inspiration to listen to his words. Great work.

Very informative.

Having heard bits and pieces over my life about Muir, I enjoyed learning this more detailed view.