If you've never heard of John Burroughs before, you won't really know what he was famous for until almost the end of the book. The first section portrays him as a young boy. (Note: author states this biography was "dramatized, not "fictionalized", believing she portrayed the truth.) He was a dreamer as a boy, but his father kept after him to do the chores on their farm. He had to work his way through high school, and spent much of his life trying to find time to do what he would enjoy. He and his wife had little in common and didn't understand or support each other. Fortunately, there were no children until late in his life. The few portions of his essays that were mentioned seemed pretty boring. He was a friend of Walt Whitman and wrote his biography. He was very observant of nature, and is known for his published nature history. Yet when he bought the property with a wetlands he considered magical, he drained the swamp to grow celery.
I picked it up for the 17 Lynd Ward illustrations, but don't really want to give shelf space to the book. ( )

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