"My First Summer in Sierra" by John Muir

"My First Summer in Sierra" by John Muir seems to be the easiest book to read so far in this course; it seems to be more like a story rather than a journal. This book reminds me of Thoreau's book, since both books are journals. One of the differences that I notices between the two book is that Thoreau seems to love nature and everything it has to offer, but Muir seems to feel more blessed to have nature. I think "blessed" is a good choice of words because Muir also seems to be pretty religious in his entries because he mentions God pretty often, as we discussed in class. He appreciates this gift that God has made for us.

Muir also seems to be more about mountains rather than the forest, like Thoreau. While describing his surroundings, Muir does a good job in inspiring people to go visit and save these mountains in the Yosemite country. Not only does Muir describe the landscape of the mountains, but the plants and animals as well. There is a sentence in the beginning of the book where Muir meets a dog, Carlo. The dog goes up to Muir and he says "He looked me in the face with eyes expressing intelligence...as if he perfectly understood all that had been said and had known me always" (pg.6). In the very beginning of the book, Muir is offered a job as a shepard, and he got more out of the job than he expected.