TRAILS OF HIS OWN

A fictionized dramatic reenactment of the life of John Muir characterizes this new biography of the famous conservationist, naturalist, geologist and great outdoorsman. From the comfort of Dunbar, Scotland to the wilds of the untamed Wisconsin wilderness, the Muir family came. A growing dissension between father and son finally drove John off the farm to try his hand at selling some of his inventions. But it took a near-tragic accident causing temporary blindness to point him in the direction of his life-work. His sight restored, John was reborn to the wonders of nature and free to pursue the trails of Humboldt deep into the Florida Everglades. But his own insatiable desire to see all led him up and down trails of his own,- into the great hills of Yosemite, up the ranges of the Sierras, through the glacial regions of Alaska- studying plant life and finally documenting his own glacial theory which disproved the one in vogue. His own self-imposed isolation never precluded his sense of responsibility to man, which eventually led to congressional bills preventing the virtual destruction of America's great woodland regions. The approach becomes more factual in the details of Muir's later life and accomplishments and is similar to William O. Douglas' Muir of the Mountains (3/15) only as it conveys one man's ""at-oneness"" with nature.