This book speaks to me on so many levels. Never have I read a more accurate depiction of how I feel when exploring the wilderness and in particular my infatuation with little rivers themselves. I don't understand why Van Dyke's work isn't touted as much as the works of Thoreau and Muir. I honestly can not express how much I recommend this book. It's actually free through the Internet Archive and Google Books if you just do a quick search. You could even pick up a cheap copy off Ebay like the 1908 edition I bought for $5. Read this book my friends.

"The personality of a river is not to be found in its water, nor in its bed, nor in its shore. Either of these elements, by itself, would be nothing. Confine the fluid contents of the noblest stream in a walled channel of stone, and it ceases to be a stream; it becomes what Charles Lamb calls "a mockery of a river--- a liquid artifice--- a wretched conduit." But take away the water from the most beautiful river-banks, and what is left? An ugly road with none to travel it; a long, ghastly scar on the bosom of the earth."

Hey @Papissama, Can we extend the book publish date years? Seems to stop at 1900 but this book was first published in 1895.