We have just listened to the audio book of "Stickeen" produced by Mara Purl and thoroughly enjoyed the story! I have already told my daughter and she is anxiously waiting for my next "care package," because I told her I would be sure to enclose the tape of "Stickeen" so she can enjoy it also. The story was wonderful and it was so beautifully produced with music and sound effects. I will look for some of Muir's other stories to enjoy, especially if Haven Books Audio does some more.

I found the audio tape to be a great source of entertainment. My imagination was captivated. It's a great source of family entertainment, personal journey and pure fun.

Our family loves to travel by car. In a huge state like Alaska, there's plenty to see, but not much to listen to on the radio, as stations are few and far between. One of the best things we listened to on our trip was "Stickeen," the remarkable dog story by John Muir. We loved Lee Salisbury's voice, and the beautiful music on the tape. This was an hour that flew by, and a few dollars well-spent. We're sending copies to all our relatives.

My 4 1/2 year old son loves this story. He seems to feel the same tension and then exuberance experienced by the little dog facing a daunting maneuver. I love the story and pictures as well,especially as a change from the fire truck, dinosaur and baseball books that we usually read. It is one of the longest stories he listens to intently. Highly recommended

This wonderfully illustrated book tells a simple story of a great man and a very courageous dog he knew in Alaska. I suggest this title for all dog lovers, no matter what their ages. Note: Amazon lists the reading level as 4-8 years, and I believe that four year olds can certainly listen to the story, but the independent reading level would be much higher. Don't miss it, though. You will always remember Stickeen. He and John Muir were certainly brave out on that glacier!

Besides being a beautiful book to look at, this lively account of John Muir's glacial wanderings with his loyal four-legged companion, Stickeen, is an artfully presented, exciting read! Dog lovers, nature lovers, and all adventurers at heart are sure to enjoy following these two on their perilous journey across the ice.

There is one, though certainly not the only, thing that sets Muir apart from other naturalist writers in my mind... adjectives. You will not find minimalist prose in any of the condensed tales found in this beautifully bound book. However, you will find wonderfully descriptive passages that engage the senses and provoke imagination. The Wild Muir is a great introduction to Muir's exploits and beyond that to the creative non-fiction field in general. This book will provide a wonderful escape for adults and children alike.

This absolutely wonderful volume distills some of John Muir's more memorable wilderness adventures into an absorbing, thrilling read. Lee Stetson, who for years has brought the spirit of John Muir alive to audiences in Yosemite and elsewhere, has assembled some of Muir's most hair-raising stories of mountain exploits into this single volume. Fiona King provides delightful illustrations that effectively compliment the narrative.

John Muir was many remarkable things: Explorer, adventurer, environmentalist, inventor, and much, much, more. This volume shows off two of his most prodigious talents: His literally stunning writing ability (as fresh and delightful today as it was when it was written a century ago) and his penchant for daredevil adventures. Muir's boundless, heartwarming enthusiam for the wilderness and all its wonders somtimes led him into truly precarious situations, which will both amaze and fascinate the reader. Of course he escaped them all with nary a scratch, as if guided by a divine hand, and went on to proselytize his message of conservation to a waiting world. Muir's entire life is the stuff of legend, these true-life stories transform it into a mythic adventure.

I purchased this book from Lee Stetson himself, at his performance in Yosemite Valley. See him there if you can, but if you can't, buy his book here. I guaranteee that Muir's words will never disappoint. This book makes a fabulous gift for kids as well...but you'll be reading it as much as they do!

This collection of Muir tales condenses his longer works - it was recognized with awards from the American Association of Museums and the National Park Service. This group of John Muir's most exciting adventures represent some of his finest writing. Each adventure shows the extent to which Muir courted and faced danger, living wildly throughout his life. From the famous avalanche ride off the rim of Yosemite Valley, to his night spent riding out a windstorm at the top of a tree, to death-defying falls on Alaskan glaciers, the renowned outdoorsman's exploits are related in passages that are by turns exhilarating, unnerving, dizzying and outrageous. Compiler Lee Stetson has carefully chosen episodes from every stage of Muir's life, prepared short introductions to place each in context, then arranged them chronologically so the reader can vicariously enjoy one man's life of adventure. The text is nicely complemented with striking black-and-white scratchboard drawings by Fiona King, a talented illustrator. The Wild Muir is the first book to assemble the best of John Muir's thrilling experiences in the out-of-doors that he loved so much. Muir enthusiasts, lovers of nature writing, friends of wilderness, and fans of adventure and outdoor lore will find the volume unique, enthralling and timeless.

I've often been fascinated by John Muir, ever since I started visiting many different national parks out west and seeing his name cited everywhere as an inspiration. If you are interested in environmental ethics and theory (as opposed to simplistic tree-hugging and other poorly-considered theories), and if you have a primal love for the outdoors, then John Muir is your man. Here Frederick Turner has written a solid biography of the man, with all the research and articulation that should be expected. Turner also includes a large dose of Muir's opinions and theories, as well as the historical and political background behind Muir's actions and thought processes. Therefore, what we have here is not just an informative biography on the public person, but an enlightening treatise on environmental ethics and theory, as defined by the brilliant mind of Muir himself.

I finished this book about a week ago. Despite moving on to subsequent reading material, I find that there are parts of Turner's book that I simply can't stop thinking on. For me, they are what makes John Muir's life and legacy so important.

There is about a three or four page segment at the end of the chapter entitled "Civilization and Its Discontents," in which Turner presents what appears to be a sea change in America's conception of itself. The change is fundamental in that it consists of a shift from the intellectual and human promise of America as seen through the eyes of Emerson and Thoreau, to the promise of power, wealth, and machines. That is, at one point, people, and their potential for growth and good, were at the center of the American dream. Yet, at some point in the Nineteenth century (possibly at the time of the Civil War) money and wealth became the American dream.

Turner is the not the first person to present this argument, as he himself notes. Nor am I certain that his take on this cultural shift is entirely accurate. However, I do think it points out the value that Muir had, and his intellectual descendants have, in directing the national attention back in the direction from which it came--not so much that we should live for nature, but that we should live for people.

As for the rest of the book, I found it enjoyable if not without problems. Turner's presentation of Muir's life, including the emotions and conceptualizations that he imagines for him, is thoroughly engaging and seems quite complete. The only problems I encountered are that Turner seems to run out of steam at the end, seeming to skip years of Muir's life at a time, and that Turner has an interesting use of commas in that he doesn't use them very often.

If you read this, and I think you should, you'll probably be as interested in reading Muir's own writings as I am.

I enjoyed this book very much. Until now I've only read short articles about Muir, so I am not qualified to comment on Turner's accuracy or how comprehensive his book is. But I can tell you it is beautifully written, evoking the world that Muir inhabited... or better yet, the worlds. Because Turner follows the boy John Muir from Scotland to Wisconsin, and then takes us along on all the adult John Muir's extensive travels. We learn about this majestic life that's as full of crags and crannies as the mountains he so loved. And we are left with no doubt about his genius and his incalculable importance to the America we live in today.

The beauty of this book is that it includes the amateur auto repairer in the picture. Using this book and with a minimum of assistance from fellow VW enthusiasts I have rebuilt VW engines three times, coming from a background of zero experience. The approach relates very strongly to that of R.M.Pirsig's "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance". Do not be afraid! You too can fix your VW.

I have an older edition of this book; it's easy to read, well illustrated, sometimes amusing and fairly complete. I can't understand why the publisher hasn't kept it in print, they have a new edition of their book for air cooled VW's but most VW's for the past 20 years have been water cooled. I just hope they're working on a new edition.

I have a copy of this book,and it is awesome, excellent and wonderful. The problem I'm having is that I am selling one of my Rabbits (80 red convertible gas 5 speed) and the people I'm selling it to want a copy of this book along with the car and I can't find another one. Thats how good this book is!

In the tradition of John Muir's How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive, this book covers repair procedures for the 74-84 Volkswagen Rabbits, Jettas, and Scirroccos.

Repair procedures, anectdotes, artful diagrams all help one keep a sense of balance whilst repairing a Volkswagen water cooled car..

In the same spirit as the original 'Compleat Idiot',technical advice is mixed with humour to inform and entertain.

Some may argue it is less thorough than the official VW manual, but it makes an excellent compliment, and a few tricks lay within that are relevant to even today's New Beetle!

Newer editions than my old one may contain 85-up Golf information.

There was a mention in one edition of a Muir publication of a 85- Golf manual, but was never published.. and now this one is out of print.

But not all is lost! It does exist, it _can_ be reborn in a new media!

If you feel that this book should be re-published in a CD-Rom, compleat with the Compleat idiot, write to Muir Publications, I did. They sent me a rejection letter (?) But keep trying, they'll get the idea eventually.. :)Maybe a petition?

My reccomendation.. If you have a Rabbit, Jetta or Scirrocco from 74-84, get this book if you can, it has a good sense of technical humour, and might help you figure out that strange noise!

A great writer writing about great things - you'll feel like you're in the middle of the Sierra yourself. Endlessly enjoyable.

In a world brimming with wonderful volumes of the work of John Muir, here is the one edition in which you may find virtually everything you seek. To find it in such a handsome, handy, easy to negotiate book makes this a must for all lovers of Muir's writing. Eight inches tall by six wide and two inches thick, it is a durable and willing partner for excursions through the wilderness. Created for long life among library shelves and scholarly studies, this sleek little friend stows away quite comfortably in backpack or oversized coat pocket. Those who don't know Mr. Muir will meet the great lover of wildness (and perhaps history's most influential advocate of preservation) presented in a lovingly researched volume which includes informative notes on the evolution of Muir's field journal entries into published pieces, a chronology of his life and literary career, and all of the major writings for which he is known. A generous selection of his published essays and magazine articles reveal many previously unsuspected jewels of poetic prose. As a lifetime devotee of the works of Shakespeare, the Bible, and the immortal Scottish bard Robert Burns, Muir could recite extensive passages from all. Likewise, his writing breezes through the imagery and lessons drawn from these potent sources. Coffee table books brimming with Ansel Adams photography, biographies of Muir, and collections of his correspondence are all aspects of any comprehensive Muir collection. The words themselves, however, simple and elegantly bound, are where the journey might well begin.

Some say this is Muir's finest work. As the only other Muir book I've read (at this writing) is Travels in Alaska, I cannot comment on this, other than to say that I enjoyed this book a great deal.
From almost any vantage point in California, whether near or on a distant horizon, there are mountains. A fact not lost on Muir, whose sense of wonder and love of life endear him to his readers.
"God's glacial-mills grind slowly, but they have been kept in motion long enough in California to grind sufficient soil for a glorious abundance of life ... In so wild and so beautiful a region [was spent my day], every sight and sound inspiring, leading one far out of himself, yet feeding and building up his individuality."
Muir was the consummate man in nature. Anyone who is indifferent to Muir's writing may simply be indifferent to wonderment itself. I have no doubt that if Muir were placed in a room with the great kings and generals and tycoons and empire builders of history, he would appear singularly as a man among men. Unimpressed with their pomp and bluster over rotting empire, he might soon command more attention than they, and many would be happily listening to Muir in spite of their self importance. Why? He would have the most interesting insights, offered poetically and in a most humble and charming way. ... (in fact Muir was sought out by the great politicians and philosophers of his day).
If you like mountains, if you like California, if you like trees and glacier-fed streams, you will like this book.

muir describes the sierras with detail and love. he is one of the few authors who is content just to be in and describe a landscape. and what a description!. he describes the evolution of glaciaral lakes to the hights of mount ritter and the migrations of deer and native peoples. a great book i recoment it to anyone who loves the outdoors.

Environmental History is a growing and much-needed field of Academia. John Muir, a peaceful yet titanic figure in America's own enviromental movement, like Rachel Carson, like, in his own right-Teddy Roosevelt, is a Pioneer of this movement. Professor Steven J.Holmes. Lecturer in History and Literature at Harvard University, has produced a deeply poignant book about this deeply thoughtful man, i.e. in Muir's "formative" years, wherein his Scottish roots clashed, then melded and germinated beautifully with the ever-more wild Wisconsin of Muir's American years. Yet this child of Dunbar, Scotland, was to, even at the "tadpole's age" of five, begin having transformative and even existential experiences, mostly derived from and spawned by the "Wilderness," by Nature, but too by Muir's love for his beloved mother. According to Holmes' carefully-documented and sourced biographical history of Muir, the young Lad had, even at a VERY young(before age 2)age, an UNCANNY ability to interact with, respond to, and above all, Deeply TRUST his Mother-especially, began when John Muir was just two months of age. Yet to me, with Mother Earth being THE all-powerful and nurturing, kindly force that this species MUST needs be recognize(i.e., Patriarchal societies are NOW too destructive, for Mother Earth to sustain, much longer), these Youthful, formative instinctive developments on Muir's part would become incredibly important in and to that "ecocentric perspective,"(182) as Holmes terms it, that would dominate this quixotically wild but peace-loving man's entire Life's viewpoint, all to the LONG-TERM betterment(IF we can only LISTEN-NOW, if not SOONER) of this Nation-State, and this species.

I have been an admirer of John Muir since I was a young child. This book is excellent in the way in which Steven J. Holmes captures the essence of a man who continues to inspire persons of all ages and backgrounds with his life. It offers intimate glimpses into Muir's experiences as well as a new perspective into understanding Muir as a universalist humanitarian and hero.

Anyone who sets out to buy an old Volkswagen will hear this book mentioned again and again, usually with great reverence and a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. Well folks, it is simply not all that. Don't get me wrong -- I'm happy I bought this book, and I refer to it often -- but like other reviewers here have pointed out, it's awfully overrated within VW circles. The instructions are biased towards pre-68 cars and often gloss over details; it's very hard to track down specific solutions when all you know are the symptoms; and the diagrams, though extremely well-drawn, aren't always as effective as real photographs of the car and its parts. When I'm trying to learn how to repair something on my Beetle, I read this book first to get a friendly introduction to the work involved... but the other manuals are the ones I actually take outside to the car.

So if you've just bought a "new" Beetle or Bus that needs a lot of repair, buy this book -- but get the Bentley shop manual for your model and year at the same time as you will need to refer to it a lot. I recommend the Haynes manuals, too; they give the same procedures but in a highly effective "steps + pictures" format.

This book is near the top of my all-time best books list. My brother gave me a copy of this book when my first Beetle engine threw a rod. It enabled me (a 17-year-old overhaul virgin) to completely overhaul the engine by myself. 17 years later, it's very dog-eared, but has helped me through several overhauls, and has given me the confidence to tackle a Bug restoration. If you can only afford one VW book, this is it. Doesn't cover body work much, but the mechanical system description and illustrations will appeal to anyone funky enough to own an air-cooled VW. I'm pleased to see that it is still in print. John Muir is gone now, but he lives large in my estimation!

Commonly referred to as the "Idiot Manual" or the "Muir Book" among VW fanatics. It covers all air cooled VW models. It is a book that I love and cherish! It is different than any other auto manual you've ever see. It is aimed at the complete idiot! It has NO pictures and only hand drawings and illustrations. This makes all illustrations very clear because it leaves out all the extraneous stuff that photos include. It has lots of text but this is a good thing. John Muir is an old hippie that loved his VW's. He instills this love in all his readers as well. This book's strong point is teaching this love of your car as well as teaching you the ongoing maintenance. I feel the tune-up and maintenance portion of this book is better than the other books. The other big plus of this book is that it's just plain fun to read. I've read it cover to cover a few times. It's that entertaining! The only weak part of this book is for serious (professional) mechanic's who want a technical manual for ALL parts of the bus. for example, here is an actual quote from the book. "The trans (transaxle) overhaul is not in this book. Not only can't you do it but we won't either." I don't mind that one bit! I couldn't do it so I appreciate them telling me. It covers the basic maintenance and repair (99% of anything you will need done on your car/bus) in a clearer, step by step, way than any other book. If I had to have only one repair book, this would be it, without question.