Tom Melham

How soothing it is to have a life that begins so calmly in Dunbar, Scotland.

And, how wonderful and inspiring it was that author Tom Melham chose to retrace John Muir's journey
from Scotland at age eleven to Wisconsin,
followed by his departure from the University of Wisconsin to become a "wild mountain man!"

The accompanying photographs form an incredible documentary.

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After writing this review, accusations of racism and white show more supremacy have tainted John Muir's legacy. show less

This is not strictly a biography, as it lets the reader know much more than this famous naturalist's history. The author not only writes about Muir's life and exploits, but follows in his footsteps, climbing the same peaks, walking the same trails, even kayaking down some of the rivers that Muir wrote of. It makes this a more personal and highly enjoyable read. And the many photographs just enhance the experience. Highly recommended.

The only Indonesia story is on Birute Galdikas and orangutang
at the Tanjung Puting Reserve in Central Kalimantan.
Review: Founded more than 112 years ago "for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge," the National Geographic Society has chronicled the exploits of some of the most famous explorers of the 20th century, and often helped fund those efforts. Roald Amundsen and Robert Byrd. Hiram Bingham and Howard Carter. Charles Lindbergh and Alan Shepard. Jacques Cousteau. Edmund show more Hillary. Will Steger. Bob Ballard. John Glenn. In addition, the Society has reported on a different sort of explorer: anthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey, for example, primatologists Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall, and archaeologists such as Matthew Stirling and Kent Weeks. National Geographic Expeditions Atlas, illustrated with hundreds of historic and contemporary photographs and more than 60 maps (both vintage and new), celebrates the achievements of Society luminaries. Some, like mountaineer Barry Bishop and diver Luis Marden, have been staff members. Many have contributed to the Society's official journal, National Geographic magazine: Amazonian explorer Loren McIntyre, for example; divers Sylvia Earle and David Doubilet; adventurer-scientists Joseph Rock and Roy Chapman Andrews; cartographer Bradford Washburn; mariners Amos Burg and Robin Lee Graham. Also part of Geographic's family: winners of the Hubbard and Grosvenor Medals, and recipients of the nearly 7,000 grants awarded by the Society over the past century to support scientific and geographic explorations. National Geographic Expeditions Atlas is dedicated not only to all Geographic explorers past and present, but also to the enduring spirit that makes such expeditions possible: an insatiable thirst for knowledge about our planet and everything in it. show less

hard to find the places on the map.