Travels in Alaska

By: John Muir

Narrated by: Noah Waterman

"In mid-July of 1879, John Muir sailed for the first time through the sheer-walled fjords of Alaska's Inside Passage. 'Never before this,' he wrote, 'had I been embosomed in scenery so hopelessly beyond description.' During the previous 15 years, Muir had vanished into the north woods of Canada, walked a thousand miles from Kentucky to the Gulf of Mexico, and nested himself in the granite heart of California's Sierra Nevada mountains. Wild nature burned with volcanic intensity in the core of John Muir's soul. And here - amid the mountains, glaciers, and islands of Alaska - he found a wildness to match his own." (Richard Nelson)

Public Domain (P)1996 Blackstone Audiobooks

The narrator ruined my experience

I have never been so taken back by a narrated book in my life. The speed with which the story was read was egregious.

Alaska

very good book if you have lots of time. he describes everything very well almost as if hes painting a picture. this book has a lot of detail and can get a little boring when it comes to him describing the trees or plants or even the icebergs. this book will defenestrate a time in our history where things were much different than they are now.
Read/listen only if your an student of the outdoors or you intrigued by a great philosopher named John Muir.

Narration was way to fast

What did you like best about Travels in Alaska? What did you like least?

The images Muir paints are poignant. Some of his stories are entertaining. The narration is horrid. I had to play it back at half speed to understand it. Then it had an echo!

What didn???t you like about Noah Waterman???s performance?

His speech is incredibly fast! I have never complained about narration, or anything, before.

Did Travels in Alaska inspire you to do anything?

No

Great book, poor narrator

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Travel's in Alaska is a classic of travel literature, a must-read for anyone interested in Alaska. The narrator is not good at all, though, and this detracted greatly from the experience of reading the book.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator of this Audible version is not at all suited to his task. He speaks too quickly, and his cadence gives no sense of the emotion and meaning behind the sentences being read. The narration becomes sing-songy and almost mechanical in places. All I could think of while listening was "what I wouldn't give for someone with a strong feeling for nature, and maybe a bit of a Scottish brogue, to be narrating this book!"

Great at .75 Speed

As per the other reviews it is read very fast. I found the .75 speed to work well. Great story and history.