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| A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Official Guides to the Appalachian Trail) | 
 enlarge | Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $0.01
You Save: $14.94 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (967 reviews)
Sales Rank: 3177
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0767902521
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.40443
EAN: 9780767902526
ASIN: 0767902521
Publication Date: May 4, 1999
Release Date: May 4, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
5 Stars for Part 1 & 3 1/2 Stars for Part 2 June 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
There are 2 parts to this book. Part 1 is awesome! It is a great story of 2 men hiking part of the Appalachian Trail and the ups and downs they had doing it. It's funny, witty and well written. Part 2 however lags a bit. The author drives part of the trail and walk parts of it in day trips, not nearly as exciting as part 1. The only thing in my opinion that save part 2 is the history and facts the author talks about. Especially about Pennsylvania and the Delaware Water Gap. Overall I gave it 4 stars. It could have been so much better if he hiked the whole thing, but overall was still a very good read.
 ridiculous, but it inspired me June 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I had a long history as a streetwalker. Yes, a streetwalker. But, I never had even spent the night outdoors. However, when I read Bill Bryson's book I immediately decided I wanted to thru-hike the entire 2,175 mile trail.
There is a lot of criticism on the AT about Bryson's book, but one thing is undeniable. With his mass following and inimitable humor, he inspired legions of previous hiking virgins to attempt the AT. And that can only be good, as this mountainous wilderness trail holds wonders that your average American can only dream about. I definitely rate it as one of the top experiences in my life.
Better yet, it inspired me to write a book myself, called Skywalker. There is only one Bill Bryson when it comes to writing. However, it was easy to dissect his success. He wrote a book that appealed to the non-hiker, as much as the hiker. Further, he avoided the plague of so many trail narratives that get trapped in the day-to-day diary format, written by experts, for other experts, in a narrow "hikerese." Rather, he told a tale that is at once earthy, serious, lighthearted, but informative.
It may not be a classic, but it has increased the population of hikers on the AT, and in this day and age of anxiety and hyper-materialism that can only be to the good.
Skywalker '05 author Skywalker--Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail billwalker52@hotmail.com
Oh So Funny June 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is hilarious!
Bryson's sense of humor and his sense of adventure is very funny. Even a couch potato would love this book.
My husband and I plan to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail in 2010, and I bought this book as research for our hike. I couldn't put the book down!
Compare this book with Scout's Honor April 21, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is actually a review of two books, one old and one new. Both are nonfiction, and both are intended for grown-ups. There's nothing in them that kids will find objectionable, but they may find them boring. I found them to be funny, poignant at times, and thought-provoking.
The first is called A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson, published in 1997. The second is called Scout's Honor, by Peter Applebome, published in 2003. Bryson is a writer and journalist who decided to walk the Appalachian Trail at around age 50, and Walk is the story of his adventures on the AT. Applebome is a writer and a journalist who decided to become a Boy Scout dad at around age 50, and Honor is the story of his adventures with his son's Boy Scout troop and with Scouting in general.
I read Walk several years ago, and just discovered Honor last week. Reading Honor reminded me of Walk, so much so that I couldn't review the former without talking about the latter.
Bryson and a friend decided, almost on a lark, to hike the AT which they had heard so much about, but Bryson was so inexperienced a hiker that he couldn't tell a Nalgene from a North Face. In fact, his introduction to backpacking and hiking occurred in a sporting goods store. He and his friend started at the southern end of the AT, in Georgia, on a snowy autumn day, and ended, with a few breaks, at the northern end in Maine several years later.
Bryson's writing is self-deprecating and intentionally funny. He plays for laughs, and he gets them. By poking fun at himself, he gives himself license to give all the other characters on the trail the same treatment he gives himself in his writing. The book is funny throughout. But just as Mark Twain and Will Rogers gave us lots of food for thought in the middle of their humor, so Bryson writes a series of thoughtful essays between the lines of his funny stories: lessons about people's character and behavior, about greed and status, about environmental awareness and social responsibility, and about what Thoreau called "the need for wilderness" or something like that. (Yes, Thoreau talked about it before John Muir did.)
When you finish Bryson's book, you will be as satisfied with the conclusion as he was with the end of the hike. You may also come away with a renewed appreciation for wild places and with an awareness of the personality flaws that make you similar to the characters Bryson writes about. It's definitely a book I would read again.
Applebome, like Bryson, knew nothing about hiking, camping and backpacking, until he moved his family from Atlanta to Chappaqua, New York, and his son wanted to join the Boy Scouts. He was reluctant to get into the hiking and the canoeing, the knot-tying and the sleeping outside on the hard ground surrounded by rain, snow, wind and critters. He had hoped that his son would express an interest in Little League baseball instead, but, wishing to score some Good Dad points with his son, he went along with him to the Boy Scout meetings and outings.
Even before he started, Applebome had anti-Boy-Scout leanings -- but as he became more involved with his son's troop, that changed. Interweaved with the funny and poignant story of his own adventures with his son's troop, Applebome tells a balanced, thoughtful, well-researched and honest story about the history of Scouting and its founders, its awkward attempts to adapt to social change, and the recent controversies surrounding it. The book isn't all narrative -- it includes a lot of reporting, exposition and editorializing -- but it's definitely worth reading.
Applebome comes the end of his book grateful for having been able to share the experience with his son, the troop leaders, and the other Scouts and their dads. He himself grows considerably through his experiences, and he faces a huge crisis of conscience when the Boy Scouts win the Supreme Court judgement in their favor with respect to gays in Scouting. The crisis of conscience occurs because he feels that the corporate organization that is the Boy Scouts of America is dead wrong on at least one of the "three G" issues (gays, God, and girls) and not faithful to the wishes of Scouting's founders, and yet he sees that the local organizations of Scouting, the councils and troops, are a powerful force for good in their communities and are getting a raw deal by both BSA headquarters and the left-wing liberals who get all over Scouting's case because of the three Gs.
Being a reporter and a problem-solver at heart, he takes a long, hard look at what Scouting could be (and should be), compares it to what it is, and makes several really good recommendations for fixing Scouting. One of the most interesting things he says is that the Scout Oath and the Scout Law, the moral foundations for Scouting (in the U.S.A.), are rock-solid and it woud be a very good thing if all boys (and men!) lived by those tenets. He also says (either himself, or quoting someone) that the Boy Scout Handbook, any edition, is just the kind of "advice to boys" that people have been longing to give to boys today.
Unfortunately, Scouting is increasingly irrelevant in a society which competes so heavily (and so much more effectively) for boys' attention with sports, video games, and so on. Applebome laments this turn of events, and yet he asserts, with his primary evidence being the members of his own son, that Scouting appeals to a certain group of boys who really don't care if other people think it's uncool, and that Scouting (practiced the way it should be) really is a Good Thing in the boys' lives and is a major influence in turning them into the kind of men this world needs. (Those are my words, not his. He said it differently.)
Scout's Honor is written to and for three groups of people: former Boy Scouts who are now adults; current and former Boy Scouts; and current and former Boy Scout leaders. It's high-energy food for thought for all three groups.
A Walk in the Woods is written for everyone, and will be especially enjoyed by those who love or hate hiking, backpacking, camping, wilderness and the fools they find there. Although it contains more mental junk food than food for thought, it will open your mind and is definitely worth reading.
Moose and Bears and Hikers, Oh My! April 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Never start reading a Bill Bryson book in a public place. This is the mistake I made with A Walk in the Woods, and I found myself giggling embarrassingly. Starting with the selection of equipment, and then the preparation for the journey by reading several terror-inducing stories of bear attacks, Bill Bryson continually amuses, educates and entertains.
Bryson sets off on one of the most physically and psychologically demanding tests of stamina that he could attempt: a hike along the Appalachian Trail. With his long-suffering friend Katz in tow, he encounters brutal weather, crazy hikers, price-gouging hostels, and random acts of kindness that make the whole thing worthwhile. I was especially touched to read about people who come to the AT specifically to leave things like snacks and books for the hikers.
Given that I am not in any kind of shape to attempt even a day hike on the AT, I enjoyed living vicariously through Bill Bryson's experiences. The vistas he got to view sounded amazing, and I could almost taste the wonderful, satisfying meals enjoyed when he was able to reach "home cooking" after many days on the Trail. In addition, his turns of phrase had me laughing out loud over and over again. The first Bryson book I've ever read, but definitely not the last.
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