Here is America's wild gallery-Yellowstone's geysers, Yosemite's rivers and cliffs, Sequoia's giants-interpreted by the man who knew them best. Muir writes as a guide and friend, pointing out "fountains of life," beaver gardens, singing streams, and colored hot springs with exactness and joy. His pages brim with motion and music: birds unseen in the thickets, ouzels beside falls, and the living architecture of forests shaped by ice and fire.
Beyond its scenery, the book does work in the soul. It trains attention, enlarges gratitude, and nourishes courage in the face of hardship-so that every reader may "venture and roam" with stouter heart in the wide world beyond the door.