"Nature's Beloved Son; Rediscovering John Muir's Botanical Legacy" written by Bonnie J. Gisel, recognized John Muir historian, with John Muir's plant specimens carefully recreated by Stephen J. Joseph, landscape and panorama photographer, examines Muir's evolving relationship with the natural world-through his close study of botany. Touching on his childhood in Scotland and Wisconsin, his sojourn in Canada and Indianapolis, his thousand-mile walk from Louisville, Kentucky to the Gulf of Mexico, his travels in California's Sierra Nevada and yosemite Valley, and his exploration of Alaska, Gisel and Joseph define Muir's belief in "nature's irresistible, divine beauty."

 

Through field study and the study of the writings of explorers, naturalist, scientists, botanists, philosophers, and academicians, Muir became skilled at identifying plants and their habitats, and he developed an abiding respect for them. Through plants he gained an inordinate sense of the enormous interlinked complexity of life and asked, were not, "all plants beautiful? or in some way useful?" Muir seemed to intuit that there was something special about plants, whether winged, feathered-downed, hooked, spiked or fruited. For him nature's purposes were seen strikingly in seeds and buds-a picture of hope and immortality.

 

Gisel and Joseph take you on a journey through each step Muir sauntered as he found his plant friends and made new ones. They ask you to join Muir and engage in a retrospective study of his life and journey and discovery through his experience an opportunity to be introspective about your own journey in the natural world. Now, you may own prints from his collection-selected by Gisel and Joseph. Among them Muir's favorite orchid-the "Calypso borealis".

 

"Nature's Beloved Son" with 150 historical and botanical images (in cloth) is available for $45 after October 1st, 2008. Advanced copies may be ordered from www.heydaybooks.com, Berkeley, Ca. (510-549-3564, ext. 304). Prints are available as of June 1, 2008. Check the Purchase Print page on this website for information.

 

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