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If you like to laugh, get this book and read it often. I laughed so hard at almost every page of this book, that I probably got as much exercise as I would have had I hiked the trail.
One of my professors had hiked a southern section of the Appalachian trail for his honeymoon in spring when the whole trail was in glorious bloom. It had been a spectacular experience which I had always envied, but never gotten the chance to copy.
I majored in Environmental Science many years ago. I'm sure my adventures would have been similarly hilariously disastrous.
I'm afraid my Environmental Science Professor and his wife were ten times the outdoor people I would ever be. So this book was perhaps my vicarious trip on the Appalachian trail.
If you've ever harbored the seductive notion that getting back to nature is an easy trip, this book will riotously disabuse you of that misconception. And be sure to keep for those days when laughter is hard to come by.
An unlikely duo attempts to tackle the over 2000 mile hike that is the Appalachian Trail. Laugh out loud as they trudge through the wilderness toward a very distant goal.
This not only is this an amusing paperback but it's a gentle call to the destruction of nature and a mini lesson (maybe 2 pages) in science, which if Bill Bryson wrote text books for students, well, at least for me, I think I would've gotten a better grade in Science. Never saw this lady before who had the charisma of a zombie and a face that spooked me, so I thought, UGH, How do I escape. He wrote about a tree, and maybe it's my interpretation, but it leads one to wonder about---who's the Maker. Feeling remorseful for this creature I inquired about the book she was holding. I'm now a break room spectacle. How can an entire book about hiking be humorous. It landed on "A Walk in the Woods." Kismet.
Dragon breath. Yea, right. Anyway, she looked like she just crawled out of the grave, no thanks lady. Happy Trails/Happy Reading.
A woman at work walked up to me and started talking to me. I'd rather be pokerfaced while reading my books at work on my breaks. However this book made my head jerk back voluntarily and grins of amusement made me stand out like a laughing hyena. The Zombie Woman was correct. So, I moved on. I'm a nature girl, so I trotted along with this odd pair pleasantly engaged to the very end of their grueling expedition. A man hiking through the Appalachian Trail and it's funny, she said. Maybe it's just me.
Not taking your recommendation, woman. Days later, I photocopied the back of Stephen King's reading recommendations in "How to Write" and I thought I'd take this list to Borders and perform a magical blind finger pick to the photocopy. The highlight of his paperback is the author's rapport with his hiking buddy.
So, I bought some hiking boots. The best thing about "Walk in the Woods" is my desire to do the same. I have got to see - walk a part of the AT. When a book moves the reader something special has occurred. Highly recommended.
In 1995, they all moved back to the states and settled in New Hampshire (Bryson and his family have since moved BACK to the UK). I love Bill Bryson and have read some of his other work but a book about his hiking the Appalachian Trail is something I would NEVER read. As the date gets closer, he worries about doing the journey on his own until his old childhood friend from Des Moines, Iowa calls and asks if he can come along. In other words, I loved it.
He really does a thorough job and in under 300 pages (for the paperback), it flies by.I have to say that I learned much more in this book than I ever thought possible. So I supposed I have to say, Bryson may know my reading tastes better than myself.The book starts with Bryson getting the idea that he should walk the Appalachian Trail as a way to reacquaint himself with his homeland. For twenty years, he had lived with his wife and four children in England. To be honest, I picked up this book at a library sale but never had any intention of reading it. I have to say that it's the complete package. He spends copious amounts of money on his gear and plans out an extremely optimistic hiking schedule.
The two were hiking buddies years before and the experience had almost ruined their friendship, however, Bryson jumps at the thought of having company. Bryson chronicles their hiking and adds in chapters on the history of the trail, the history of the National Parks Service, even the history of some of the towns that they stop in.
Bryson's humor always makes me chuckle but this book proves that he can also handle serious matters with great insight and understanding. Strangely enough, I was bored one hot summer day and cracked it open only to find myself completely enthralled and racing through it as if it was a thriller.
When the historic chapters came up, I often thought about skipping them but found myself just as engrossed as I was in the chapters detailing Katz and Bryson's odd couple-esque hiking trip. Always an avid lover of nature but never much of a hiker, Bryson decides he'll hike from the southern most spot on the AT (Appalachian Trail) to Mount Katahdin in Maine.
As is usual with Bryson, he reads all about the subject and focuses a great deal on bear stories, deaths out on the trail, and the sordid history of the trail itself. Bryson's reflections on the importance and significance of the AT in his life as well as in that of America is extremely well articulated.
It's excellent as far as I am concerned and certainly a read that anyone can enjoy (and how often can you say that about a book.).
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