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In the summer of 1869 a Scottish-born drifter of 31 took a job looking after a flock of sheep in the high Sierra Nevada, and kept a journal. John Muir had emigrated to Wisconsin at 11, studied at the state university for about two and a half years, walked to Florida, and landed in San Francisco in 1868. The journal waited more than forty years to become My First Summer in the Sierra (1911). In between he studied Yosemite’s glaciers, travelled to Alaska, ran a fruit ranch in Martinez and, in 1892, co-founded the Sierra Club. His first book of his own did not appear until 1894, and four more came out after his death in 1914. This guide covers his 10 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 10 key books · 1894–1918 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
John Muir published eight books in his lifetime and four more appeared after his death. The best known are My First Summer in the Sierra (1911), The Mountains of California (1894), The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913), Travels in Alaska (1915) and A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf (1916). Start with My First Summer in the Sierra: it is a day-by-day journal, and the shortest way into how he saw the mountains.
Where to Start with John Muir
If you want his defining book
→ My First Summer in the Sierra (1911) — the 1869 journal of a summer in the high Sierra.
If you want his own life story
→ The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913) — from Dunbar to a Wisconsin farm and university.
If you want a long journey on foot
→ A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf (1916) — the walk south to Florida, published after his death.
If you want the far north
→ Travels in Alaska (1915) — glaciers, coasts and his trips to Alaska.
10 John Muir Books, in Order
The Mountains of California
His first book, published when he was in his mid-fifties and had been in California for a quarter of a century. It describes the Sierra Nevada from its glaciers and high lakes down through its forests, storms and wildlife, drawing on the glacier studies he began in Yosemite in the early 1870s.
Our National Parks
A book about the wild parks and reserves of the American West, written to persuade readers to visit them and to argue for their protection. It came out eleven years after Yosemite became a national park in 1890, a campaign Muir had been part of.
Stickeen
A short book about a small dog called Stickeen and a dangerous crossing of an Alaskan glacier that Muir and the dog made together.
My First Summer in the Sierra
The journal of the summer of 1869, when Muir went up into the Sierra Nevada with a flock of sheep. It is written day by day, about rock, plants, weather, animals and the shepherd and the sheep, and records his first long stay in the high country around Yosemite. He revised the journal for publication more than forty years later.
The Yosemite
A book-length portrait of Yosemite Valley and the country around it, the landscape he had lived in continuously until 1873. It contains his line that everybody needs “beauty as well as bread”, and it appeared while he was campaigning to save the nearby Hetch Hetchy Valley.
The Story of My Boyhood and Youth
Muir’s memoir of his early years: a childhood in Dunbar, Scotland, where he started school at three; the family’s emigration to Wisconsin in 1849, when he was 11; farm work; and his time at the University of Wisconsin. It was the last book published in his lifetime.
Travels in Alaska
Published the year after his death, this gathers his accounts of travelling the coast, islands and glaciers of Alaska, beginning with his first trip there in the years before his marriage in 1880.
A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf
The journal of the long walk south he made after leaving his job in Indianapolis, through the American South to Florida and then by ship to Cuba, before he sailed for California in 1868. Published two years after his death, it is the earliest of his journeys to appear in a book.
The Cruise of the Corwin
Muir’s journal and dispatches from a voyage into Arctic waters aboard the ship Corwin, published as a book three years after his death.
Steep Trails
A posthumous compilation of essays and letters about travels across the American West, the last of the four books that appeared after his death.
In What Order to Read John Muir
Publication order is misleading with Muir. The books came out between 1894 and 1918, but many of them describe events decades earlier: the walk south of the late 1860s appeared in 1916, the 1869 Sierra journal in 1911. If you want his life in sequence, read The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, then A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, then My First Summer in the Sierra, then Travels in Alaska.
The four posthumous books were assembled from journals and manuscripts after his death in 1914, so they read less finished than The Mountains of California or The Yosemite. Stickeen is short enough to read in a sitting.
A reading path
1. My First Summer in the Sierra (1911)
2. The Mountains of California (1894)
3. The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913)
4. A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf (1916)
5. Travels in Alaska (1915)
Everything Else John Muir Published
Beyond the 10 key books: 2 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Edited and occasional books
2
2 books · 1888–1911
- 1888Picturesque Californiaa two-volume illustrated work he edited and contributed to
- 1911E. H. Harrimana short book on Edward Henry Harriman, who led the Alaska expedition Muir joined
The years · 1838–1914
Quick facts about John Muir
- Known for
- Writing about the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite that helped make the case for America’s national parks, and co-founding the Sierra Club in 1892.
- 1838
- Born in Dunbar, Scotland
- 1849
- Emigrates with his family to Wisconsin
- 1869
- A summer with sheep in the Sierra
- 1914
- Dies in Los Angeles
- Born
- 21 April 1838, Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland
- Emigrated
- To Wisconsin in 1849, aged 11
- Education
- University of Wisconsin, about two and a half years
- California
- Arrived in San Francisco in 1868; lived in Yosemite until 1873
- Family
- Married Louie Strentzel in 1880; daughters Wanda and Helen
- Founded
- The Sierra Club, with others, in 1892
- Died
- 24 December 1914, Los Angeles, aged 76
The red mark is 1911: My First Summer in the Sierra, the journal of 1869 that became his best-known book.
How John Muir Writes: Field Notes Made Into Books
Most of Muir’s books started as journals and notebooks kept on the move: on foot through the South, with a flock of sheep in the Sierra, in boats and on glaciers in Alaska. He often turned them into books decades later, which is why My First Summer in the Sierra came out 42 years after the summer it describes, and why four books were still being assembled after his death.
He wrote as a naturalist with a geologist’s eye. In Yosemite in the early 1870s he studied glaciers and how they shaped the valleys, and his descriptions of the Sierra keep returning to rock, ice and weather as much as to plants and animals. He describes wild places with open enthusiasm rather than detachment, and argues that people need them.
His books were also arguments. Our National Parks and The Yosemite were written to bring readers to the parks and to defend them, and he wrote them alongside campaigns: for Yosemite, which became a national park in 1890, and later for the Hetch Hetchy Valley.
Frequently asked questions about John Muir’s books
How many books has John Muir written?
Twelve books are usually listed under his name. Eight appeared in his lifetime, including Picturesque California (1888), which he edited, and four more were published after his death in 1914. Ten of them are the key books on this page.
What are John Muir’s books in order?
The Mountains of California (1894), Our National Parks (1901), Stickeen (1909), My First Summer in the Sierra (1911), The Yosemite (1912), The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913), Travels in Alaska (1915), A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf (1916), The Cruise of the Corwin (1917) and Steep Trails (1918).
Where should I start with John Muir?
My First Summer in the Sierra (1911), the journal of the summer of 1869 he spent in the Sierra Nevada with a flock of sheep. It is written day by day, which makes it easy to read in short stretches.
What is John Muir’s most famous book?
My First Summer in the Sierra is the most widely read today. The Mountains of California (1894), his first book, and Our National Parks (1901) were the books that built his reputation in his lifetime.
Which John Muir books were published after his death?
Four: Travels in Alaska (1915), A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf (1916), The Cruise of the Corwin (1917) and Steep Trails (1918). Muir died on 24 December 1914 in Los Angeles.
Did John Muir found the Sierra Club?
Yes, with a group of others, in 1892. Britannica describes him as its founder, and he is also credited with a large part in creating Yosemite and Sequoia national parks.
What did the Sierra Club say about John Muir in 2020?
On 22 July 2020 the club’s executive director, Michael Brune, wrote that Muir “made derogatory comments about Black people and Indigenous peoples that drew on deeply harmful racist stereotypes”. Examples cited include his description of Cherokee homes as “wigwams of savages” in the notes of his walk south, and words such as “dirty” and “lazy” for California tribes. The club also named early leaders linked to eugenics and pledged to invest more in racial and environmental justice work. Historians have since debated how to weigh these remarks against his conservation legacy.
Was John Muir Scottish or American?
Both. He was born in Dunbar, Scotland, on 21 April 1838 and emigrated with his family to Wisconsin in 1849, when he was 11. He lived in California from 1868 until his death.
Is Muir Woods named after John Muir?
Yes. Muir Woods National Monument, north of San Francisco, was established in 1908 and named after him, while he was still alive.
Footnotes
- John Muir — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- John Muir’s Books and Publications — National Park Service
- John Muir Chronology — National Park Service
- Taking down its own monuments, Sierra Club assesses the racism of John Muir — NPR via KAXE, 2020
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in…”
— John Muir, The Yosemite (1912)
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