Take a photo of a barcode or cover
prolificliving 's review for:
I loved Bryson's book, A Short History of Nearly Everything so much - SO MUCH - that I felt compelled naturally to check out his other works. My uncle is a big hiker and camper and he has read A Walk in the Woods so I picked it up. I remember laughing so hard early in the story as Bryson gets the idea in his head to hike the Appalachian Trail (the AT), and when his buddy Steven Katz gets in the picture, you can see that these two form the perfect entertaining duo to set off on such a journey. And I have to say, the book is good and if ever you get a similar idea of hiking the AT or similar such trails - the Pacific Crest Trail, for which you must read Wild by Cheryl Strayed - this book can serve as an educational guide. The trail related information is quite old as Bryson did this hike in the 90s, but the dangers of the wilderness will still apply.
What I didn't like about this book is how Bryson takes on this superior tone on so many things - anything from the people or agencies on charge of preserving and protecting the trail to all southern states below the Mason-Dixie line, to novice hikers who cross his path and to government decisions made in poor favor of the trees and animals. I get it. Humans can be destroyers of Mother Nature and supremely stupid but these diversions from the story affect the energy and the journey I had so hoped to follow and experience ever so vicariously. Besides, Bryson and Katz skip a large chunk of the trail, then stop and take a break while Katz goes off to work while Bryson explores the north side of the trail in daily size hikes, which he thoroughly dislikes as it's nothing like the real thing.
I've read two other books on such hikes; funny enough, both those books were by women who hiked alone! One hiked the entire Pacific Trail and the other walked & hiked Camino del Santiago in Europe, and their stories were more inspirational and transformational.
Overall, a great read with some adventure and lots of opinion on the state of nature, which is admittedly sad but overdone for my taste.
What I didn't like about this book is how Bryson takes on this superior tone on so many things - anything from the people or agencies on charge of preserving and protecting the trail to all southern states below the Mason-Dixie line, to novice hikers who cross his path and to government decisions made in poor favor of the trees and animals. I get it. Humans can be destroyers of Mother Nature and supremely stupid but these diversions from the story affect the energy and the journey I had so hoped to follow and experience ever so vicariously. Besides, Bryson and Katz skip a large chunk of the trail, then stop and take a break while Katz goes off to work while Bryson explores the north side of the trail in daily size hikes, which he thoroughly dislikes as it's nothing like the real thing.
I've read two other books on such hikes; funny enough, both those books were by women who hiked alone! One hiked the entire Pacific Trail and the other walked & hiked Camino del Santiago in Europe, and their stories were more inspirational and transformational.
Overall, a great read with some adventure and lots of opinion on the state of nature, which is admittedly sad but overdone for my taste.