Sublime

Il y a tout Muir dans cette aventure de quelques semaines dans la Sierra Nevada. Sa curiosité, son esprit d’aventure, sa résistance physique exceptionnelle, son émerveillement permanent, esthétique, spirituel et scientifique, son contact facile, son empathie avec les animaux, son humour tranquille et invincible, son dégoût de la destruction, que l’

It had to be the two of them because herd animals should not be kept alone, and the fact that only one of them could be ridden was just fine with me, because I was out of the picture

An animal that can change itself to match its surroundings, just by contracting its skin? That can weigh as many stone as a man and stretch the length of a carriage, and yet fold its body through a crevice? Whose brain is wrapped about its throat—a brain no larger than a pea—but who is clever enough to play actual games? An animal with this much in

Occasionally it happens by chance that the parochial criteria of attractiveness that evolved within a species produce something that looks beautiful to us: the peacock’s tail is an example. But that is a rare anomaly: in the overwhelming majority of species, we do not share any of their criteria for finding something attractive.

The Golden Guide to Pond Life, The Golden Guide to Stars, to Rocks and Minerals, to Reptiles and Amphibians: humans are almost beside the point.

An American, Woodrow Wilson Sayre, and three companions, none of whom were experienced climbers, crossed secretly into Tibet from Nepal in 1962 to make an unauthorized attempt on Everest from the north. An intense personal drive combined with a sequence of incredibly lucky circumstances that all but surpasses belief permitted Sayre to reach 25,000