Audiobooks by John Muir

In this essay, Muir tells his experience of climbing to the top of a tree and riding it for hours through a wild Sierra storm. As he writes, “the danger to life and limb is hardly greater than one would experience crouching deprecatingly beneath a roof.” This selection is part of the full length audiobook, "Storm: Stories of Survival From Land and Sea."

John Muir (Author), Terrence Aselford (Narrator)

Audiobook

My First Summer in the Sierra (Unabridged)

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. John Muir's 'My First Summer in the Sierra' chronicles his 1869 experience as a shepherd in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. While his job involved tending sheep, his true passion lay in exploring and documenting the region's natural wonders. The book is a collection of his observations and reflections, filled with vivid descriptions of landscapes, plants, and animals. Through his poetic prose, Muir paints a picture of majestic mountains, crystal-clear lakes, and sprawling wildflower meadows. He details encounters with diverse wildlife and shares his awe at the power and beauty of nature. While facing challenges like food shortages and solitude, Muir finds solace and inspiration in the wilderness. This short work serves as a testament to his love for nature and foreshadows his future dedication to environmental preservation.

John Muir (Author), Digital Voice Marcus G (Narrator)

Audiobook

An Audio Bundle: Storm & Deep Blue

Most people associate storms and other big weather with death-with the kind of force that makes each of us wonder about life, and time and the nature of our surroundings. Some people go out looking for bad weather or go to places where they're likely to encounter it. Others have the misfortune of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Still, the stories in Storm have more to say than that. They tell us about what happens when people find that treacherous weather-or when it finds them-and we are reminded of the fragility of life, the capriciousness of Nature's will, and how little we can do when both cross paths. In Deep Blue, for those who dare, things often go wrong under the sea. Such tragedies, spurred by the booming interest in the Titanic and the Andrea Doria, have been the focus of tremendous literature form the world's finest authors. Deep Blue offers compelling tales of shipwrecks and salvage, submarine adventure and free diving, nautical survival and cannibalism.

Farley Mowat, Gordon Chaplin, Herman Melville, Jack Lemoyne, Jack London, John Muir, John Vaillant, Michael Groom, Nathaniel Philbrick, Patrick O'brian, Philip Ashton, Richard Byrd, Rick Bass, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rockwell Kent, Sebastian Junger, Stephen Crane, Whitney Balliett (Author), Barrett Whitener, Gary Telles, Nick Sampson, Richard Rohan, Rick Foucheux, Terence Aselford (Narrator)

Audiobook

My First Summer in the Sierra

'My First Summer in the Sierra' (1911) takes inspiration from Muir’s journals of the months he spent between June and September 1869 as a shepherd in the Sierras. Muir went on to built a cabin along Yosemite Creek, where he lived for two years. He designed it in such a way that a portion of the stream flowed through it, as he wanted to enjoy its music. From French Bar to Mono Lake and the Yosemite Valley, he was awestruck by everything he saw. The antics of the smallest 'insect people' amazed him as much as stunted thousand-year old Juniper trees growing with inconceivable tenacity from tiny cracks in the stone. In this novel, he tells of the nature in the Sierra, and of his ascension of Mt. Hoffman and other local peaks.

John Muir (Author), Adrian Praetzellis (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf

In early March 1867, Muir was injured while working at a wagon wheels factory: a tool he was using slipped and struck him in the eye. This accident changed the course of his life. He was confined to a darkened room for six weeks, worried he’d lost his sight forever. When he did recover, the world looked completely different and life had taken on a new meaning for him. Muir later said, 'This affliction has driven me to the sweet fields. God has to nearly kill us sometimes, to teach us lessons.' From that point on, he determined to 'be true to myself' and follow his dream of exploring and studying plants. A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf recounts Muir's walk of approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from Indiana to Florida. He did not follow a specific route, only going by the 'wildest, leafiest, and least trodden way I could find.' This journal is the earliest of Muir's writings and autobiographically bridges the period between 'The Story of my Boyhood and Youth' and 'My First Summer in the Sierra.'

John Muir (Author), Mary Ann Spiegel (Narrator)

Audiobook

My First Summer in the Sierra (Unabridged)

In the summer of 1869, John Muir joined a group of shepherds in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, that he might study and expand his knowledge of the plants, animals and rocks he found there. My First Summer in the Sierra – first published in 1911 – is the detailed and colourful diary he kept while tending sheep and exploring the wilderness.

John Muir (Author), Brian Morris, Dave Wallace (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Yosemite

John Muir (1838 – 1914) was an influential naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, and advocate for the preservation of wilderness areas in the United States. In 1869, Muir travelled to California and spent a long time in the area that is now the Yosemite National Park. This narrative takes the form of a hiking guide filled with adventure. Muir was a master of description, providing stirring portraits of the area’s wildlife, waterfalls, valleys, meadows, giant sequoias groves, lakes, mountains, , and glaciers. About Yosemite Falls, he writes, “At the top of the fall they seem to burst forth in irregular spurts from some grand, throbbing mountain heart.”

John Muir (Author), Don Gentry (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Yosemite

For two years Scots-born John Muir lived in a small cabin along the Yosemite creek, observing the valley’s natural beauty and reading Emerson under the stars. The experience forged a lifelong affinity with the site, which would result in its establishment as a national park in 1890. Originally written as a guidebook to the park, The Yosemite describes every aspect of wildlife and landscape that one might encounter there. In exuberant and reverent language, Muir presents its scaling peaks, winding rivers and thunderous creeks, and gives observations on nearly every plant, animal, and geological feature. With childlike awe he rides in avalanches, rushes to witness floods, and climbs rocks under waterfalls. The Yosemite is Muir’s ode to nature and the magnificence of the outdoors.

John Muir (Author), Nick Mcardle (Narrator)

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Wilderness Essays

Part of John Muir's appeal to modern readers is that he not only explored the American West and wrote about its beauties but also fought for their preservation. His successes dot the landscape and are evident in all the natural features that bear his name: forests, lakes, trails, and glaciers. Here collected are some of Muir's finest wilderness essays, ranging in subject matter from Alaska to Yellowstone, from Oregon to the High Sierra.

John Muir (Author), Steven Brand (Narrator)

Audiobook

My First Summer in the Sierra

The journal of nature-lover John Muir who spent the summer of 1869 walking California's Sierra Nevada range. From French Bar to Mono Lake and the Yosemite Valley, Muir was awestruck by everything he saw. The antics of the smallest "insect people" amazed him as much as stunted thousand-year old Juniper trees growing with inconceivable tenacity from tiny cracks in the stone. Muir spent the rest of his life working to preserve the high Sierra, believing that "the clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness." John Muir (1838-1914) was born in Dunbar, Scotland and grew up in Wisconsin, USA.

John Muir (Author), Adrian Praetzellis (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf

Muir was a preservationist and naturalist. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. In early March 1867, Muir was injured while working as a sawyer in a factory that made wagon wheels: a tool he was using slipped and struck him in the eye. This accident changed the course of his life. He was confined to a darkened room for six weeks, worried whether he'd ever regain his sight. When he did, "he saw the world-and his purpose-in a new light," writes Marquis. Muir later wrote, "This affliction has driven me to the sweet fields. God has to nearly kill us sometimes, to teach us lessons." From that point on, he determined to "be true to myself" and follow his dream of exploration and study of plants. A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf recounts Muir's walk of about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from Indiana to Florida. He had no specific route chosen, except to go by the "wildest, leafiest, and least trodden way I could find." This journal is the earliest of Muir's writings and autobiographically bridges the period between The Story of my Boyhood and Youth and My First Summer in the Sierra.

John Muir (Author), Mary Ann Spiegel (Narrator)

Audiobook

Steep Trails (Excerpts)

These four excerpts, from the writings of John Muir, document his naturalist studies in a number of different settings. These highly descriptive stories detail his expeditions in the rugged outdoors. His documented studies led him to an awe of the natural splendors of the earth, and eventually to a position of preservation. His direct activism helped to save the Yosemite Valley and other wilderness areas. Four Excerpts are included: A Geologists Winter Walk A Perilous Night on Shasta Summit Nevada's Dead Towns People and Towns of Puget Sound

John Muir (Author), Michael Scott (Narrator)

Audiobook