{"product_id":"the-story-of-my-boyhood-john-muir-9781911342045","title":"The Story of My Boyhood and Youth: An Early Years Biography of a Pioneering Environmentalist","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Story of my Boyhood and Youth\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e is the affecting memoir of the now internationally renowned \u003cstrong\u003eJohn Muir\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Scottish-American boy subject to a most unusual upbringing, his transition into adulthood, and the path that led him to petition for the concept of protected national parks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in \u003cstrong\u003eEast Lothian, Scotland\u003c\/strong\u003e in 1838, Muir was raised by a fanatically strict, religious father with his numerous brothers and sisters and loving mother. From an early age, a shy Muir showed fascination with the natural world, and at aged eleven, his father announced the family were to move to an American wilderness in Wisconsin - Muir had a new playground.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis adolescence is spent labouring on the family's grassroots farm. Working seventeen-hour days, an exhausted yet inquisitive Muir desperately snatches moments to himself, yearning to explore the environment around him, secretly studying books on topics other than religion, and rising at 1 a.m. to pursue his hobby of inventing intricate time and energy-saving devices - much to his father's disapproval and everyone else's admiration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt age twenty-two, Muir takes it upon himself to apply to university, and does so without financial or moral support from his father. He makes his way to the \u003cstrong\u003eUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison\u003c\/strong\u003e to study chemistry and botany, and though never graduating with a degree, he is satisfied that he had learned all he wanted to there, before completing the rest of his nature education in 'the university of the wilderness'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Story of my Boyhood and Youth\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e includes a new foreword by \u003cstrong\u003eTerry Gifford\u003c\/strong\u003e, and offers insight into the development of Muir's spiritual connection with the natural world, and suggests an explanation for his passion for freedom in the wilderness, a stark contrast to the forced rigidity of his early years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e John Muir\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1911342045\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781911342045\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vertebrate Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/11\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 112\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.37lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.23d","brand":"John Muir","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43983777792255,"sku":"9781911342045","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_d9f59d4e-84d2-432a-be5b-8e34b14b98c8.jpg?v=1683268659","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-story-of-my-boyhood-john-muir-9781911342045","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}