Every once in a while, a book grabs me and I know I will never forget it. This is one of those:
***
The Adventures of a Nature Guide
by Enos Mills
5/5
Enos Abijah Mills (1870-1922) spent his entire life exploring nature and then sharing his observations with anyone interested. This book, The Adventures of a Nature Guide, was originally printed in 1920 (reprinted in 2015) and Enos died just two years later. Through his fifty-two years, the burning passion that took life before his teens never dimmed:
The teaser that persuaded me to buy this book was the opening chapter–Walking Blind in the Snow-covered Mountains. Mills had been exploring the world atop the Continental Divide, alone as was his norm, when he lost his vision to snow blindness. Most of us would ponder our mortality but Mills rationally and calmly found his way back to civilization by employing his remaining senses:
“…feeling my way with the staff so as not to step off a cliff or walk overboard into a canon.”
It took Mills more than two days with only a staff and his remaining senses to find his way down the mountain but he never lost his positive attitude or the belief he would prevail. Only a nature lover could see that as an adventure.
It becomes clear as I read his adventures that to Mills, it didn’t matter what nature threw at him–snow, heat, or storms. He considered each an opportunity to learn more about the natural world:
“The following day, while the storm was at its wildest in the lowlands, I was descending the mountains between eleven and nine thousand feet. Much of the time I was in the broken storm cloud, and, as I wrote in my notebook, ‘For two hours the crash and roll of thunder was incessant. I counted twenty-three times that the lightning struck rocks, but I did not see it strike a tree.'”
Throughout the book, Mills shares many amazing experiences. Here’s one where he watches the ever changing inhabitants of a woodpecker’s nest (over a period of years), starting with the original owners and then followed by chipmunks, bluebirds, wrens, and more.
Who knew? Here are a few more adventures:
“…is both interesting and necessary for one who enjoys the outdoors to be able to return to the lightning-struck tree, the almost hidden beaver colony, the nest of the humming-bird, and to recall the peculiarities of a particular place and its distance from the orchid or the bear sign which he saw.”
If you are a nature lover, hiking enthusiast, or admirer of the independent spirit, you will enjoy this book.
More non-fiction reviews:
Letters From the Field Part II
Einstein: His Life and Universe
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers, and the Man vs. Nature saga. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, blog webmaster, an Amazon Vine Voice, a columnist for NEA Today, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, Laws of Nature, Fall 2021. You can find her tech ed books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning
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Wow, sounds like my kind of book, Jacqui.
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It is one of those books. I love reading how individuals prevail against the impossible. Jean’s post on your site–spotlighting Hatchet–is similar.
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Yes, and also one of the themes in your books, Jacqui. 🥰🙌
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Oh, thank you for this review. It sounds awesome, the author in particular sounds like a guy that can teach us many things over a cup of tea.
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If it’s outside, preferably hidden in the wilds!
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Such an Interesting book
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It definitely is. A wonderful peek into a world I only see from my couch.
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Super review, Jacqui!
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Thanks, Jennie. I should have mentioned–it’s also G-rated and I think simple enough language a K could understand (though not read!).
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Good to know!
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Oh wow. I would like that too.
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It’s one of those books I’m so glad I stumbled onto.
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For sure!
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Thanks for this review–it sounds like a book I’d enjoy.
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Lots of trust and faith in this one!
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Jacqui, This sounds mesmerizing. Thanks for sharing. Hope you and your muse are having a great weekend:)
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I just finished my weekly blogging–yikes! Now, time to play with my story. All good with you?
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Sounds fascinating. And a hundred years back! And alone. He could not make a distress call from his mobile, or get a chopper to pick him up from hostile terrain. Wow! We owe these guys.
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It came down to personal responsibility. I’d first have to stop shaking with feasr!
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I hadn’t heard of this book, Jacqui! I’m not an adventurer, but I appreciate people who are.
This sounds like an interesting book.
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I’m the armchair version of an adventurer. I don’t like tiny critters!
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I’m okay with “clean” adventure. The mosquitos would make me turn around!
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The descriptions of how Enos found his way off the mountain while snowblind are fascinating! The first thing that caught my attention about your review is that my home town in Vermont, Enosburg, was named after someone named Enos.
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That’s interesting, undoubtedly this guy. He was famous in his time.
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Our Enos had a bit of a checkered history in the Revolutionary War, apparently.
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Ooops–NOT this guy. That’s interesting.
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😀
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What a wonderful share, Jacqui. I hadn’t heard of this book, but it sounds fabulous.
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It’s old but from the moment I read the blurb, I had to read it. How’s that for marketing!
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How fortunate he was to actually make a career out of his passion. What an adventurer. How fortunate we are he recorded his story for us.Thank you for sharing.
JQ Rose
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In that way, he reminds me of E.O. Wilson. I loved his book (about his passion for insects). That seems to happen more with scientists than lay people.
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Wonderful review! The best berry picking comes from traveling through a burnout section of forest. It’s amazing how the land rejuvenates itself if we give it the chance.
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It is, isn’t it? Nature knows how to care for herself.
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Adding this one to my TBR!
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It fits Maine and all of its nature.
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That it does! 🌲
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I am sure I would enjoy this book. Thank you Jacqui for sharing your fabulous review.
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Thanks, Balroop. It’s a bit different than my norm, innit?
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Lost on a mountain would not be my kind of adventure!
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Especially blind. Yikes! You see why I had to get this book.
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I loved reading John Muir so I know I will enjoy this and added it to my TBR list. Thanks, Jacqui!
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These two had a lot in common. I got the sense John Muir traveled around more while Enos studied his area more deeply.
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John Muir makes me feel like I’m walking along with him and I look forward to seeing nature through new eyes.
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Thank you so much for introducing us to this book.
xoxo
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I hope you love it as much as I did!
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I hope so too 🌹
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I think that’s a book I’d like to read. Good suggestion.
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He’s an amazing guy, all about nature, nothing about himself.
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Hi Jacqui – fascinating to learn of a new ‘environmentalist’ and to be able to read up about him … wonderful that he had that early passion. Thanks for posting – stay safe – Hilary
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This man was amazing. He literally spent most of his life outdoors, exploring, enjoying. I wondered occasionally as I read how he paid the bills but back then, that stuff all worked out.
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Love books on nature. This one sounds like poetry in the wild.
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What a beautiful way to say it, Grace. Yes, it is.
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Very visceral. Thanks for sharing.
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It is! I so wanted to sit with him for a year, more, watching that woodpecker nest change hands. Who has the patience these days to notice that!
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I barely had the time to read this post, let alone the book. I can’t imagine having his time and patience. When I get to the end of my life, I know I’m going to have so many regrets…
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If I were in my 30’s, I’d say, “when I retire”. Well maybe but doesn’t look like that’ll ever happen!
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I never heard of Mills before. This sounds like my kind of book. It now is on my TBR list.
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He was inspired by John Muir which provides a little more context.
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A pretty amazing feat to get down that mountain while blind. Does snow blindness wear off after a perid?
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Not always, I don’t think, but in his case, it did. Pretty amazing he simply took it in stride!
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I don´t read much nonfiction but this one sounds very good. Thanks.
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That first part–being snowblink–is like a thriller. The rest is tamer.
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Spending his life enjoying his passion, those feelings would undoubtedly show through in his work. Thanks for the intro to this book, Jacqui.
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Oh and it does! He notices so much that would slip by me.
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I certainly didn’t know that about a woodpecker’s nest. It makes you wonder why other birds don’t mimic their technique. Great stuff, Jacqui. Thanks for the review!
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That is pretty cool, isn’t it? I knew Chimpanzees only use their nests once–and don’t dismantle them–so others can move right in (like my ancient folk). I hadn’t thought of this applied to other animals.
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Thank you, Jacqui, for this review, it reads very much like my kind of book.
Joanna
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I think it is, too. I found it free somewhere online or for a fee on Amazon for my Kindle. It’s quite relaxing to live his life.
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