"I have a low opinion of books; they are but piles of stones set up
to show coming travelers where other minds have been, or at best signal
smokes to call attention. Cadmus and all the
other inventors of letters receive a thousand-fold more credit than they
deserve. No amount of work-making will ever make a single soul to know
these mountains (the Sierras). As well seek to warm the naked and frostbitten by
lectures on caloric and pictures of flame. One day's exposure to
mountains is better than cartloads of books."
Those words were written by John Muir, whose books, essays and letters have been read by millions!
John Muir, a Scottish-born American naturalist was one of the first people to fight for preservation of our wilderness areas.
His opinions and writings are widely used in discussions about nature and political activism. Muir has been widely quoted by nature photographers, scholars and current-day preservationists.
I'm sorry he had such a low opinion of books, as we have learned much from his writings!
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