The World of John Burroughs

Rating:
Summary: Splendid writing, painstaking research!
Review: As the editor of a forthcoming book of essays on John Burroughs, I have found The World of John Burroughs an invaluable resource. Its author is an in-the-field naturalist as well as a superb writer and scholar. The beautiful format of The World of John Burroughs might mislead readers to look at the pictures and ignore Edward Kanze's superb writing and painstaking research; but the book is filled with factual and verbal treasure-- including the most recent and complete research on the fascinating story behind the birth of Julian Burroughs. Most of all, this book helps to renew our awareness of the continuing relevance and liveliness of John Burroughs's contribution to American nature writing.

Rating:
Summary: Too brief
Review: I've enjoyed reading "The World of John Burroughs" twice and just signed on to order it for a friend's birthday. Although out-of-print, I'm pleased to find a soft-cover version just out. I took a look at the reviews for fun and want to add mine. I found the book a perfect introduction to Burroughs' as one of the pivotal figures of his time, and as a man, showing both his greatness and generosity, and his fallibility. I think Burroughs' himself would have enjoyed the book and its wonderful photographs and, perhaps more importantly, would have found the treatment of controversial issues (e.g. his illegitimate child) altogether fair.

I'll order the paperback version and have it sent to me for a sneak read before sending it off with a card and a bow.

Rating:
Summary: Like a fine museum exhibit, strong writing, excellent photos
Review: John Burroughs, the naturalist and philosopher, was a best-seller in his day (the late 19th century and early 20th), a Thoreau without rough edges and politics. If he has enjoyed a revival in recent years it is probably due to Ed Kanze's stunningly written and attractively presented biography, "The World of John Burroughs,'' published by Abrams in 1993, and now out of print. The good news: Sierra Club Books is coming out with a paperback version in fall 1999. Some of Burroughs is dated today, and as Kanze notes, he published some mediocre essays along with the good stuff. But much of Burroughs' nature writings are brilliant in their painstaking observation and solid prose:

"Most persons think the bee gets honey from the flowers, but she does not: honey is a product of the bee; it is the nectar of the flowers with the bee added. What the bee gets from the flower is sweet water: this she puts through a process of her own and imparts to it her own quality."

Kanze, like a good conversationalist, leads the reader gently through Burroughs' life and writings. Burroughs was a real 19th-century figure: He consorted with the literary likes of John Muir and William Dean Howells and in later life was a favorite of Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Ford -- not to mention the Vassar girls who visited him at his rustic Hudson Valley hideaway, Slabsides. (Burroughs' private life was, in a word, difficult, and Kanze is unstinting in dealing with the birth of his one -- illegitimate -- child.) It is not surprising that Kanze is a naturalist himself and has been a museum curator. The book has the feel of a nature walk or a good museum exhibit, in which a subject not readily familiar to the reader becomes fascinating with the help of a terrific guide. There are well-chosen historical photographs and the luminous nature photography of the author, each photo chosen for its relevance to one or another passage from Burroughs' work. Particularly moving are the photos of Burroughs in Slabsides; paired with Kanze's own color photos of the house's preserved interior.You find your eye traveling back and forth from the old photo to the new, to see the same fireplace stone here, the unpeeled birch desk there.

Rating:
Summary: For the mind and the eyes
Review: The World of John Burroughs is a very readable biography of this great naturalist and writer. It is also refreshment for the eyes. Many photographs help portray the land and people that helped to shape this man. As a great grand niece of JB, I highly recommend this book for its accuracy and beauty.

Rating:
Summary: A Joy to Read
Review: Well researched, embellished with the author's gorgeous photos, this book is a joy to read. It is a biography and more!

Rating:
Summary: A Joy to Read
Review: Well researched, embellished with the author's gorgeous photos, this book is a joy to read. It is a biography and more!