"The grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried up at once; a shower is always falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls."
Let these poetic words sink into your consciousness and stew a while in your heart. They were written by John Muir (1838-1914), founder of the Sierra Club and an advocate of the preservation of wilderness through a national parks system.
In this simple but sensuous tribute to the naturalist, children's writer and illustrator Thomas Locker treats us to some of the scenic splendors of California and Alaska. Muir was born in Scotland and raised in Wisconsin, but his soul came fully alive when he arrived in Yosemite, California. There the beauty of the meadows and the groves of ancient trees took his breath away, and he was never the same. Locker best conveys Muir's attitude of wonder in a painting of him standing on the limbs high up in a Douglas fir. What is he doing there? Trying to experience the full shock and glory of a storm.
Muir loved the wildness in the wilderness, whether a storm in California or the dangerous ice in Alaska. The book includes an introduction by Dr. Edgar Wayburn, past president of the Sierra Club. John Muir: America's Naturalist is the second in a series of illustrated books by Thomas Locker introducing readers to individuals who loved the wilderness.
