John Muir : Nature Writings: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth; My First Summer in the Sierra; The Mountains of California; Stickeen; Essays (Library of America)

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A Look At the Life of an Amazing Man

The Finest Natural History

John Muir: Outdoorsman, Conservationist, and Literate Genius

inspirational in every way

Lovers of Muir, find your home in this volume!

John Muir : Nature Writings: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth; My First Summer in the Sierra; The Mountains of California; Stickeen; Essays (Library of America)
John Muir
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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John Muir: Nature's Visionary

ASIN: 1883011248

Book Description

In a lifetime of exploration, writing, and passionate political activism, John Muir made himself America's most eloquent spokesman for the mystery and majesty of the wilderness, a master of natural description who evoked and celebrated with unique power and intimacy the untrammeled landscapes of Alaska and the American West.

Customer Reviews:

A Look At the Life of an Amazing Man.......2007-05-07

This Autobiography of John Muir was a look at the life of an amazing man. He was the type of writer that could take you to the place where he was living and make you feel like you were right there with him. His childhood experiences in Scotland and the farm life of Wisconsin formed the basis for how he viewed and related to the rest of his life and those around him. He was a world traveler who looked through the eyes of creation to observe ecology and invention. As a world traveler I also observe through the eyes of creation and as a native Californian I have had extensive experience hiking and camping in the Sierra Nevada's. John Muir's writing style took me back to the places I have loved and remembered.

The Finest Natural History.......2007-01-04

John Muir was one of the founders of the early 20th century conservation movement and godfather to today's environmentalism. This collection of three books and shorter works demonstrates the reason. Muir's description of the natural world is at times scientific, at others spiritual. Here nature is not some remote thing but the living manifestation of God's love. This is not a religious book as such and yet he finds that all parts of the natural creation from rocks and mountains to trees and animals have inherent within them a life force which makes them precious. Humans are neither removed from nor a "higher" part of nature. Muir shows that we are part of this larger whole - a radical concept when he proposed it and radical still. Muir set the standard in calling for preservation of the natural world. He was a genius as an inventor and scientist and, in addition, is one of our finest writers ever. These collected Nature Writings are simply beautiful and wonderfully presented in this Library of America edition.

John Muir: Outdoorsman, Conservationist, and Literate Genius.......2003-09-15

"American forests! the glory of the world!"
- John Muir, 1901

Of all the extraordinary men and women that have made our nation great, one stands above all others for his dedication to preserving its unequaled natural beauty: John Muir. Founder of The Sierra Club, this lover of the western forests' legacy to our generation is the National Park system, through which millions of acres of unique ecosystems have been set aside for everyone's enjoyment.

"Muir: Nature Writings" is a collection of the writings of this Scottish expatriate who first stepped foot in America in 1849 as an eleven year old brawler and budding naturalist. Blessed with a childhood mastery of Latin and Greek as well as a discerning and disciplined eye, the learned boy possessed a poet's heart, a scientist's mind, and a theologian's soul. A genius, who as a teen whittled precision wooden scientific instruments, Muir used his diverse skills to vividly portray nature's life and death struggles on his family's Wisconsin farm in "My Boyhood & Youth." Here we find Muir learning to swim by observing frogs or recollecting the mindless slaughter of the Earth's most numerous bird, the now-extinct passenger pigeon, a forlorn tale that foreshadows the conservationist he was to become.

While in college polishing his mechanical skills, Muir was detoured into studying botany. Dropping out to make powered tools for factories, an accident left him rethinking that detour; he forsook the factory and walked across America. His journey led him to the Sierra Mountains, chronicled in "My First Summer in the Sierra." Now working as a shepherd, Muir drove his flock through Yosemite while making detailed nature studies. Marveling at the natural beauty of the land he would eventually champion as one of the first National Parks, Muir wrote: "We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us. Our flesh-and-bone tabernacle seems transparent as glass to the beauty about us, as if truly an inseparable part of it, thrilling with the air and trees, streams and rocks, in the waves of the sun, - a part of all nature, neither old nor young, sick nor well, but immortal."

Muir's writings here run the gamut from analytical to thrilling. In "Stickeen", the author and a canine companion cheat death while stranded mid-storm between crevasses of an Alaskan glacier. (A self-taught authority on glaciers, Muir would eventually have one in Alaska bear his name.) "The Mountains of California" is an in-depth look at the geologic formations, plants, and animals of the region. In this piece, he tells of being stuck on the side of volcanic Mt. Shasta, staying warm in the bitter cold by nestling up to steam vents. Muir also laments the loss of the vast meadows of the San Joaquin Valley as he discusses how to make a living post-Gold Rush by raising bees for honey.

What makes Muir so unique when compared with today's environmentalists is this belief that we can live in harmony with Creation if we take simple steps to prevent despoiling it. In "The American Forests" he wrote: "No place is too good for good men, and there is still room.... Every place is made better by them. Let them be as free to pick gold and gems from the hills, to cut and hew, dig and plant, for homes and bread...." Muir's balanced view of Man's place in the wilderness overwhelmingly reflects his Christian faith, for he never fails to stand in awe of each living thing God has made. That our government leaders were so swayed by Muir's writing attests to the power of his "holy" persuasion. All of us are indebted to John Muir's single-minded devotion to America's wilderness.

("Muir: Nature Writings" is part of the Library of America series. This diverse collection of the writings of great Americans ranges from sermons of early American preachers to analysis of the Vietnam War. The works of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Ulysses S. Grant, Flannery O'Connor, and James Thurber are but a few that comprise the series. An invaluable lookingglass into the heart and soul of our nation, this collection is essential reading for anyone who longs to know what makes America unique.)

inspirational in every way.......1999-10-11

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

Lovers of Muir, find your home in this volume!.......1999-08-29

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.

My First Summer in the Sierra (Dover Books on Americana)

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A reluctant write
Nature is the only gardener able to do work so fine
If this is classic nature lit, then maybe its just me...
This Is John Muir's Finest Book
Discovering the Range of Light

My First Summer in the Sierra (Dover Books on Americana)
John Muir
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486437353

Amazon.com

John Muir, a young Scottish immigrant, had not yet become the famed conservationist whom he liked to call "John o' the Mountains" when he first trekked into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada not long after the end of the Civil War. Having caught a glimpse of such magical places as Tuolumne Meadows and El Capitan, Muir ached to return, and in the summer of 1869 he signed on with a crew of shepherds and drove a flock of 2,500 woolly critters toward the headwaters of the Merced River.

The diary he kept while tending sheep forms the heart of My First Summer in the Sierra; published in 1911, it enticed thousands of Americans to visit the Yosemite country. The book is full of the concerns Muir would later voice as America's foremost preservationist and wildlands advocate, which would bear fruit in the creation of several national parks and monuments. And it resounds with Muir's nearly pantheistic regard for the natural world: with celebrations of the Sierra's lizards that "dart about on the hot rocks, swift as dragonflies," its mountain lions and tall trees and fierce thunderstorms and bears; with Muir's overarching awe for places that civilization had yet to tame. Though perhaps a little purple by modern standards, Muir's book continues to inspire readers to seek out such places for themselves and make them their own--and as such it stands among the enduring classics of environmental literature. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

Picturesque descriptions and sketches by one of America's most important and influential naturalists describes the author's 1869 stay in California's Yosemite River Valley and the Sierra Mountains. Muir's engaging journal describes majestic vistas, flora and fauna, as well as the region's other breathtaking natural wonders. 21 black-and-white illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

A reluctant write.......2007-05-09

This is an excellent, honest write. Muir reluctantly dictated this book while walking around a northern California estate. The wealthy owner of the estate loaned his secretary while Muir walked and talked and the secretary took dictation. Muir had the benefit of good editors. It is a great read because Muir is walking through forests while he recounts his first summer in the Sierra Nevada. We feel it through his eyes.

Muir's later writing efforts came hard, with much editing and rewrites. He worked in his "scribble den" in Martinez with "lateral, terminal and medial moraines of paper arranged about the room ready to cascade forth and bury him."

The original manuscripts show much of the book was written in pencil, with at least five editings (Muir made corrections and alterations). Graham cracker crumbs are embedded in the paper (Muir ate while he worked. Eating graham crackers is a carry over from his student days at the University of Wisconsin).

This is the genuine John Muir, fresh, crisp, articulate (okay, his descriptions can be a bit wordy at times) and alive with a child-like fascintation for learning and inspiration.

I own an original first edition copy with the dust cover and gold leaf on the hard bound cover. I reread the book from time to time. What a great story.

Nature is the only gardener able to do work so fine.......2007-04-17

Gretel Ehrlich provides the introduction. It is noted that John Muir walked first, wrote later. In 1868 he was thirty years old and had walked a thousand miles. He was a seeker in self-exile such as D.H. Lawrence, Rockwell Kent, and Basho. Muir chronicles a rite of passage. The summer described began in June, 1869. Forty-one years later the account was pieced together.

Muir worked for Mr. Delaney as a sheepherder. He had a St. Bernard dog as a companion. Mr. Delaney encouraged Muir to sketch and pursue his naturalist studies. He was to learn that sheep cannot be governed when hungry. Bushes are stripped. The sheep resemble locusts in their destructive potential.

Two kinds of squirrels are evident, the Douglas and the California Gray. The wood rat is more like a squirrel than a rat. He bulds large striking looking houses. Sheep camp bread is baked in Dutch ovens. Descriptions of silver firs, Sierra juniper, yellow and sugar pines, Douglas spruce, sequoia, hemlock, and dwarf pines appear in the account of the summer. Nature is extravagant. The group follows the Yosemite trail.

Mules flee from bears, and dogs want to. Bears are very shy. Indian patience is required to see them. Making sheep cross a stream is a challenge. Once one goes in, the others push in pell-mell. Lake Tenaya was named for one of the chiefs of the Yosemite tribe. Sierra mosquitoes are nearly an inch long. Sierra chipmunks are arboreal and squirrel-like. Grouse and woodpeckers are abundant in the vicinity of Mount Hoffman.

On August third Muir found Professor Butler, his teacher at the University of Wisconsin, because, sensing his presence, John Muir made inquiries at the only hotel in the area and was directed to go to the Vernal Falls. Professor Butler and his party were astonished that John Muir found them.

In times of hunger the dogs, men, and sheep are confronted with lions, leopards, wolves, hyenas, and panthers. The names of places are exciting and descriptive--Moraine Lake, Mono Desert, Soda Springs, Unicorn Peak, Cathedral Range, Tuolumne, Hetch-Hetchy Valley. Muir's self-directed studies in botany clearly account for some of the strengths of this nature narrative. In the end Mr. Delaney tells Muir he will be famous some day.The author describes himself as an incredible wilderness lover. September twenty second ended Muir's first excursion.

The book is a marvel. Sketches and photographs are included and enhance the work.

If this is classic nature lit, then maybe its just me..........2007-01-09

I am going to resign from critiquing this book on a literary scale, and just say that I didn't enjoy this book for the same reason a couple others mentioned - its boring and repetitive. Maybe its because I'm not used to aimless - albeit eloquent -landscape descriptions, or maybe it's the fact that NOTHING happens for 264 pages, but reading this book felt more like a chore than an enjoyable reading experience. Case in point: Casual readers beware!

This Is John Muir's Finest Book.......2006-09-07

John Muir might be the finest author of the "naturalist" genre there ever was. This book is based on his field notes he wrote while he spent his first summer in the Sierra Nevada as a shepherd. He always seems to find the perfect words to describe all that he sees. He was the consumate observer of the natural world and this book is all that. It is a must read for anyone who ever wondered what his life was like, how the Sierra Nevada appeared in the late 1800s, and how he became America's savior of public lands.

Discovering the Range of Light.......2006-07-18

John Muir was born in 1838 and at a young age emigrated from Scotland with his family to a Wisconsin farm. He escaped the hard labor of the farm and his father's backward Biblical obsessions by displaying great powers of visualization. From principles learned from books, he whittled and fashioned barometers, thermometers, clocks and other marvels from the barest of materials. But he repudiated his inventive genius, which could have made him rich, after an industrial accident left him temporarily blinded; and he took off for the wilderness to discover plants and the natural world.

This book is a journal account of Muir's finding a place for himself in Yosemite after some dangerous wandering through the hazards of reconstruction in the South after the Civil War. It's a book of discovery. Although flocks of sheep like Muir's employer's were allowed to overrun backcountry meadows, and gold miners had ripped apart the lower river beds, the Sierras then were still a place that had many aspects that had not yet been explored or understood. The backcountry was much more vulnerable to exploitation (though in many ways less endangered) than today, but there was freer and unfettered access for one who sought out it's mysteries and wanted to learn. This book shows Muir's powers of visualization in his beginning to formulate the role that glaciers play in the formation of the landscape. No one at that time had come to a solid understanding of what had made Yosemite Valley. And, although it might seem quite clear in retrospect, it took a strong mind of one who up until that time had been adrift in the world, a wanderer who studied plants, to visualize his theories and make them known to the world.

Anyone who has not experienced the Sierra first hand cannot really appreciate this book. There are lengthy and numerous descriptions of plants and animals, loving descriptions in Muir's fashion, that can only be understood by one who has reveled in the same places and likewise wants to examine all the details. It's not a purely intellectual appreciation. It's something felt with the whole body, with all the senses alive. Muir always writes of being drawn into Nature, of never turning back, as in the case of his foolhardy venture to the brink of Yosemite Falls, "I therefore concluded not to venture farther, but did nevertheless". There's also this kind of breathless anticipation of tomorrow- if only I will be given a chance to explore its fountains...

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MY FIRST SUMMER IN THE SIERRA
John Muir
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ7MUI

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My First Summer in the Sierra
John Muir
Manufacturer: Sierra Club Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ICS0WK

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My First Summer in the Sierra

Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000B5H4F8

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My First Summer in the Sierra
John Muir
Manufacturer: Unknown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0760784523

Product Description

This vivid travelogue conveys John Muir's life-changing adventure in the Sierra Nevada. Penniless but itching to travel, Muir took a job relocating Pat Delaney's sheep from California's Central Valley to the Yosemite region. When he set out in the summer of 1869, Muir, whose closest previous experience was walking a thousand miles from Indiana to Florida, wasn't sure that "the silly sheep" would make it through the wilds of the mountains. He was reassured that the accompanying shepherd would do the actual herding, and that he'd be left to study nature. Silver firs, waterfalls, fertile valleys, and snowcapped peaks bejeweled the landscape, imbuing Muir with a profound reverence for the natural world. His passionate journal entries detail the beautiful surroundings Muir encountered and the colorful characters he met along the way. They furthermore explain his transformation from an industrial engineer to a pioneer of the environmental movement. My First Summer in the Sierra has become a classic that has inspired many to follow in Muir's footsteps.

My first summer in the Sierra [publisher's dummy]

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My first summer in the Sierra [publisher's dummy]
John Muir
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0008BP06U

MY FIRST SUMMER In The SIERRA. Foreword and A Note on the Text by Frederick Turner.

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MY FIRST SUMMER In The SIERRA. Foreword and A Note on the Text by Frederick Turner.
John. Muir
Manufacturer: A Yolla Bolly Press Book Published by Sierra Club Books,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MZ9090

The Wilderness Journeys: My Boyhood & Youth First Summer in the Sierra 1000 Mile Walk (Canongate Classics, 67)

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This is a great anthology

The Wilderness Journeys: My Boyhood & Youth First Summer in the Sierra 1000 Mile Walk (Canongate Classics, 67)
John Muir
Manufacturer: Canongate Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

This is a great anthology.......2001-05-30

If I was only to buy one John Muir book (a tragedy), this would be the one. Excellent essays that demonstrate both his lucid writing style and the amazing country that he describes. He coherently describes his own life (and the times that surround it), in a way that makes me want to grab a cotton rucksack and a bag of food and head off for the High Sierra.

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My First Summer in the Sierra
John Muir
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MY7NS6

Book Description

From the port city of Duluth to Grand Portage National Monument near the Canadian border, the North Shore of Lake Superior is a favorite travel destination, popular for its breathtaking natural beauty, abundant outdoor recreation choices, and rich history. In this comprehensive and chatty guidebook, a longtime resident looks at the best places to eat, drink, play, and relax.

Nina's North Shore Guide covers accommodations, outdoor activities, dining, and shopping, with sections describing area history and shipwrecks, the natural environment, and recreational options. This second edition has been completely updated (including Internet addresses for many of the North Shore attractions and lodgings), and a more convenient format makes this guidebook better than ever. Graced throughout with beautiful woodcuts by Minnesota illustrator Betsy Bowen (Antler, Bear, Canoe), Nina's North Shore Guide is so complete it will delight even the most frequent visitors to the region with new discoveries.

"This book accomplishes the near impossible: it's attractive, well-organized, just about as complete as it could be, and at the same time it's small enough to be quite portable. And did I mention readability? Nina's personality shines through, making it a fun read as well." Minnesota Monthly

Customer Reviews:

A witty and comprehensive guide to Minnesota's North Shore.......1999-08-07

Nina's book goes far beyond the "where to eat, where to shop, where to stay" standard of so many guides. It talks about the shipwrecks of Lake Superior, the geological landscape, rivers and waterfalls, outdoor activities (including curling and watching the stars) and where to locate the nearest liquor store! It is obvious that she loves her neighborhood, and this book helps you to explore more than the surface. A must read for anyone headed up Highway 61 - and a great gift for those who live there.

Funnny,well written, and very complete........1999-05-26

Funny, well written, and very complete

Book Description

The perfect combination of story and standards

Journey Across Time: The Early Ages, Course 1 is an all-new middle school world history program organized chronologically from the first humans and ancient civilizations to A.D. 800. Co-authored by National Geographic and Jackson Spielvogel, this program’s engaging narrative and outstanding visuals transport students back in time. The result is a standards-based program with important geography skills embedded in every lesson.

Journey Across Time: The Early Ages is available in a full volume and also as Course 1 (7000 B.C. to A.D. 800) and Course 2 (A.D. 500 to A.D. 1750).

Journey Across Time: Early Ages, Course 1, Student Edition

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Journey Across Time: Early Ages, Course 1, Student Edition
GLENCOE
Manufacturer: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OGKOR4

Book Description

Man, the crown of creation, has set himself apart from other life-forms, regarding animals and plants as dumb and insentient. Now a pioneering scientist tells us how wrong we have been. In an engrossing tour of the many species we share our planet with, Brian J. Ford reveals how all living things feel and communicate with one another in ways that, though mysterious to us, are very real. He cites a growing body of research to show that we are surrounded not by brute beasts we can use at will but by sensitive souls with emotions and responses we must respect. We are taught-wrongly-that dreams are unique to humans. Our animal relatives dream, too, and have done so since long before we as a species existed. Do animals feel pain? The weight of scientific evidence shows they do. Mammals have languages of their own to transmit inner feelings-aggression, fear-to their fellows. Birds show astounding cognitive ability, conducting elaborate courting rituals and displaying great passion and devotion to lifelong partners. Ford's fascinating and entertaining narrative shows that within each species, whether insect, fish, plant, or even microbes, life exists in glorious and surprising variety, rich in sensation and creating a marvelously complex web of interaction with its surroundings. This exciting and thought-provoking book marks a timely revolution in popular scientific thought.

Customer Reviews:

Informative range of insights into wildlife communication........2001-01-23

How do animals and plants feel and communicate their feelings? This presents a growing body of research which demonstrates that animals - and plants - have emotions and responses just as valid as human feelings. From birds and how they see to homing frogs and their shared communities, this packs in a range of insights on wildlife communications processes.

Want to know what your pets and plants are thinking????.......2000-09-16

An insightfull and entertaining book that touches on a subject rarely spoken of, but often thought about: do other life forms think, feel and communicate as we do? In fact they do. All lifeforms can communicate with one another, the only problem is we can't always understand the other lifeforms language, and if we all took the time to learn one anothers language, all life would live in harmony.

Want to know what your pets and plants are thinking????.......2000-09-16

Amazon.com

In February 2001, scientists at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory announced that they had recorded a simple knot untying itself. Crafted from a chain of nickel-plated steel balls connected by thin metal rods, the three-crossing knot stretched, wiggled, and bent its way out of its predicament--a neat trick worthy of an inorganic Houdini, but more than that, a critical discovery in how granular and filamentary materials such as strands of DNA and polymers entangle and enfold themselves.

A knot seems a simple, everyday thing, at least to anyone who wears laced shoes or uses a corded telephone. In the mathematical discipline known as topology, however, knots are anything but simple: at 16 crossings of a "closed curve in space that does not intersect itself anywhere," a knot can take one of 1,388,705 permutations, and more are possible. All this thrills mathematics professor Colin Adams, whose primer offers an engaging if challenging introduction to the mysterious, often unproven, but, he suggests, ultimately knowable nature of knots of all kinds--whether nontrivial, satellite, torus, cable, or hyperbolic. As perhaps befits its subject, Adams's prose is sometimes, well, tangled ("a knot is amphicheiral if it can be deformed through space to the knot obtained by changing every crossing in the projection of the knot to the opposite crossing"), but his book is great fun for puzzle and magic buffs, and a useful reference for students of knot theory and other aspects of higher mathematics. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

Over a century old, knot theory is today one of the most active areas of modern mathematics. The study of knots has led to important applications in DNA research and the synthesis of new molecules, and has had a significant impact on statistical mechanics and quantum field theory.

Colin Adams’s The Knot Book is the first book to make cutting-edge research in knot theory accessible to a non-specialist audience. Starting with the simplest knots, Adams guides readers through increasingly more intricate twists and turns of knot theory, exploring problems and theorems mathematicians can now solve, as well as those that remain open. He also explores how knot theory is providing important insights in biology, chemistry, physics, and other fields. The new paperback edition has been updated to include the latest research results, and includes hundreds of illustrations of knots, as well as worked examples, exercises and problems.

With a simple piece of string, an elementary mathematical background, and The Knot Book, anyone can start learning about some of the most advanced ideas in contemporary mathematics.

Customer Reviews:

Good Introduction to Knots.......2007-07-03

In terms of content, I would rate this book 4-5 stars. However, I rated it three stars because it had a flaw in terms of readibility. If you are willing to devote a lot of time to the subject, and are willing to take the time to work through all of the exercises, then this is the book for you. However, if you are just looking for some light reading on an unusual subject, there is a problem with the book. In many cases, if you don't complete the exercises, your ability to understand what follows in the chapter will be impaired. I bought the book to read on the train, and did not really have the facilities to work through all of the exercises. For me, the book would be greatly improved if solutions to some of the exercises (at least in sketch form) were included as an appendix.
In addition to being a good introduction to knots, the book also covers many othet topics in topology as well. At the end of the book, the author tries to show that there are practical applications to knot theory, but for the most part he appeared to be stretching. It seems that knot theory is pretty close to being "pure" mathematics. One thing that he did miss, however, was the application of knot theory to tying neckties. That would have been really practical!

Written for a non-mathematician but certainly enjoyable by mathematicians!.......2006-11-16

This book is aimed at making knot theory accessible to people with little mathematical background, and it does so beautifully. However, the material is not watered down--and there is quite a lot of material in this book, as well as a number of open questions (which are quite difficult). The book starts with basics and seems easy, but it gets into challenging concepts rather quickly. Knot theory is one area of abstract mathematics that is particularly accessible to people with little background and this book works off this assumption quite well. Most importantly, this book is fun--it brings out the fun in the subject, and in mathematics in general!

This book would make excellent reading for anyone who likes puzzles, abstract thought, or novel forms of mathematics. It also would be interesting for mathematicians who want an introduction to knot theory. Someone who wants a more mathematical (but still accessible) treatment might want to check out "Knots and Surfaces" by N. D. Gilbert. In some respects it is a natural follow-up to this book. It is slightly more concise and has more rigorous mathematics in it.

Pretty good introduction.......2005-03-31

One can make nothing wrong buying this book. It gives an easy introduction, and most parts are well explained. Don't expect to become an expert in knot theory after reading it but at least you are then familiar with the basics.

Great introduction to knot theory.......2003-03-09

Having first been exposed to interesting knots while in undergraduate courses in biology and chemistry and occasionally encountering knots in my mathematical life, I have long maintained a passing interest in the field. However, until now, no single event evoked a reaction strong enough to pique a desire to explore. All it took to change that was the reading of this book by Adams.
Surprisingly complete for an introductory text, it is also amazingly understandable. Requiring only knowledge of polynomials and a mind capable of understanding twists, I found it addictive. This is one area where it pays not to think straight. After reading it twice, I still pick it up and scan it in odd moments. Problems are scattered throughout the book, and many can be solved using only a piece of string. Those that are still unsolved are clearly marked, with is good, since the statements are often very simple.
There are many applications and the number is growing all the time. One of the most profound images and statements of discovery was the pictures of the knotting of the rings of Saturn and commentator Carl Sagan saying, "We don't understand that at all. We will have to invent a whole new branch of physics to understand it." The most esoteric recent explanation of the structure of the universe is the theory of superstrings, where all objects are multi-dimensional knots. A fascinating problem in molecular biology of the gene is the process whereby DNA coils when quiescent and uncoils to be copied. One chapter is devoted to applications, although more would have been helpful.
A non-convoluted introduction to the theory of convolutions, this book belongs in every mathematical library.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

Excellent motivation for knot theory.......2002-06-27

Knot theory has been a branch of mathematics that has been around for over a century, and now is finding applications in mnay areas, some of these being electrical circuit analysis, genetics, dynamical systems, and cryptography. This book, written for the layman or the beginning student of mathematics, is an excellent overview of what is known (and not known) in knot theory. Because of the pictorial nature of the subject, knot theory is an excellent way to get people interested in mathematics. Knot theory now is an established branch of mathematics, and it involves the use of tools from topology, analysis, and algebra. The problem of distinguishing one knot from another is one of the major questions in knot theory, and its partial resolution has been assisted by concepts from physics, namely statistical mechanics and quantum field theory. The author discusses the knot recognition problem, and other unsolved problems in the book, and he points out that in knot theory the unsolved problems can be approached by someone with very little background in advanced mathematical techniques. The author does an excellent job of introducing these problems and letting the reader experience, in his words, the joy of doing mathematics.

Chapter 1 is an introduction to the basic terminology of knot theory, and the author gives examples of the most popular elementary knots. He points out the historical origins of the theory, one of these being the attempt by Lord Kelvin to explain the origins of the elements, interestingly. The basic operations on knots are defined, such as composition and factoring, and the famous Reidemeister moves. The proof that planar isotopies and Reidemeister moves suffices to map one projection of a knot to another is omitted. After defining links and linking numbers, the author then discusses tricolorability, and uses this to prove that there are nontrivial knots.

Chapter 2 then overviews the strategies used in the tabulation of knots.The Dowker notation, used to describe a projection of a knot, is discussed as a tool for listing knots with 13 or less crossings. The author also discusses the Conway notation, and how it is used to study tangles and mutants. Graph theory is also introduced as a technique to study knot projections. The author discusses the unsolved problem of finding an elementary integer function that gives the prime knots with given crossing number, a problem that has important ramifications for cryptography (but the author does not discuss this application).

Since knots are complicated objects, then like many other areas in topology, the strategy is to assign a quantity to a knot that will distinguish it from all other knots. Such a quantity is called an invariant, and as one might guess, no one has yet found an invariant to distinguish all nontrivial knots from each other. In the last two decades though, new powerful knot invariants have been discovered, many of these being based on concepts from theoretical physics. In chapter 3, the author discusses the unknotting number, the bridge number, and the crossing number as elementary examples of knot invariants.

Chapter 4 is more complicated, in that the author shows how to use surfaces to assist in the understanding of knots. After discussing how to triangulate an surface and the concept of a homoeomorphism between surfaces, he introduces the Euler characteristic as an invariant of surfaces. Surfaces appear in knot theory as the space in the knot's complement, and the author introduces the concept of the compressibility of a surface, also very important in three-dimensional topology. Particular attention is paid to Seifert surfaces, which, given a particular knot, are orientable surfaces with one boundary component such that the boundary component is the knot in question.

Several different types of knots are considered in chapter 5, such as torus, satellite and hyperbolic knots. The latter are particularly interesting, since their study is part of the field of hyperbolic geometry, a subject that is now undergoing intense study. The author also introduces the theory of braids and the braid group. Not only are braids very important in the study of knots, but they have taken on major importance in cryptography and dynamical systems.

Chapter 6 is very interesting, and introduces some of the more contemporary topics in knot theory. The assignment of polynomials to knots goes back to the early 20th century, but it took the work of Vaughan Jones and his use of ideas from operator theory and statistical mechanics to provide polynomial invariants of knots that were much finer than the Alexander polynomial of the 1930s. The Jones polynomial however is not introduced the way Jones did, but instead via the Kaufmann bracket polynomial. The HOMFLY polynomial is introduced as a polynomial that generalizes the Jones and Alexander polynomials.

A few applications of knot theory are discussed in Chapter 7, such as the DNA molecule and topological stereoisomers. The author also discusses the applications of knot theory to the theory of exactly solvable models in statistical mechanics, a topic that has mushroomed in the past decade. This is followed by a brief overview of applications of knot theory to graph theory in chapter 8.

Chapters 9 and 10 are an introduction to knot theory as it relates to research in the topology of 3-dimensional manifolds and the existence of knots in dimensions higher than 3. The concepts introduced, particulary the idea of a Heegaard diagram, are used extensively in the study of 3-manifolds. In addition, the author mentions the famous Poincare conjecture, albeit in non-rigorous terms. The Kirby calculus, which is a kind of generalization of the Reidemeister moves, but instead models the sequence of operations that allow one to change from one Dehn surgery description of a 3-manifold to another is briefly discussed. The author also gives a few elementary, intuitive hints about how to visualize knotted objects in high dimensions.

Book Description

Nicaraguan poet and essayist Darío (the pen name of Félix Rubén García Sarmiento) is considered the high priest of the modernismo school of literature. This volume contains a rich selection of his best poems and stories from Azul (Blue), Prosas profanas (Worldly Hymns), and others. Accurate English translations appear on the facing pages.

Customer Reviews:

Another title; another gem........2006-08-03

You simply can't go wrong with this series. Here is one of the great names in Spanish literature, Rubén Darío, made even more accessible through the dual-language format. A must for teachers, students, and those of us will always be both!

Towering poet!.......2006-02-13

The egregious ascendancy of Latin American poetry ever born; Dario incarnates as nobody else the sublime beauty, nocturnal gaze, autumnal meditation and existential anguish tinged of a bucolic scent and contemplative mood.

Along his poetry it 's easy to certain to associate with Whitman in determined concerns; Dario visits the hospitals of the hell and makes his own journey; but besides, his dark reflections are impregnated with a visible tinge of spiritual penury and incurable hopeless.

Baroja stated once: the Castllian owns two great names: Valle Inclàn and Ruben Dario. Go for this invaluable book and ve part of that poetical iniverse.

The best Ruben Dario book for the international fan.......2004-02-17

I found this book to be very insightful into the mind of Ruben Dario. Having the translation in both languages gives the reader an accurate idea of what Dario wanted to express; and also gives the reader an accurate idea of why he chose certain words to say certain things. Some small detail I would have wished is that it contained the full lirical calendar, the autum, winter, spring, and fall poems. Overall, an exellent book.

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