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Loading... A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (1997)▾LibraryThing Recommendations ▾Will you like it?
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 Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. ▾Conversations (About links) No current Talk conversations about this book. » See also 557 mentions ▾Work-to-work relationships Is contained inIs abridged in
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To Katz,
of course.  | |
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Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire I happened upon a path that vanished into a wood on the edge of town. | |
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But always the wandering trail ran on. “You all right?” I said. “Oh, peachy,” he replied. “Just peachy. I don’t know why they couldn’t have put some crocodiles in here and made a real adventure of it.” The book to which I refer is Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance by a Canadian academic named Stephen Herrero. If this is not the last word on the subject, the I really, really, really do not wish to hear the last word. [Chapter 2] Black bears rarely attack. But here's the thing. Sometimes they do. All bears are agile, cunning, and immensely strong, and they are always hungry. If they want to kill you and eat you, they can, and pretty much whenever they want. That doesn't happen often, but -- and here is the absolutely salient point -- once would be enough. [Chapter 2] I wanted very much to be calmed by these assurances but could never quite manage the necessary leap of faith. After noting that just 500 people were attacked and hurt by black bears between 1960 and 1980 -- twenty-five attacks from a resident population of at least half a million bears -- Herrero adds that most of these injuries were not severe. "The typical black bear-inflicted injury," he writes blandly, "is minor and usually involves only a few scratches or light bites." Pardon me, but what exactly is a light bite? Are we talking a playful wrestle and gummy nips? I think not. And is 500 certified attacks really such a modest number, considering how few people go into the North American woods? And how foolish must one be to be reassured by the information that no bear has killed a human being in Vermont or New Hampshire in 200 years? That's not because the bears have signed a treaty, you know. There's nothing to say they won't start a modest rampage tomorrow. [Chapter 2] "You're going into the woods for weeks and weeks with a person you have barely seen for twenty-five years. Have you really thought this through?" (As if I have ever thought anything through.) [Chapter 2] | |
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ISBNs 0552152153 and 0553455923 (or 9780553455922) refer to abridged versions. Please do not combine with unabridged works. | |
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Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language. | |
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▾References References to this work on external resources.  Wikipedia in English (2)
▾LibraryThing members' description ▾Book descriptions Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0307279464, Mass Market Paperback)
Your initial reaction to Bill Bryson's reading of A Walk in the Woods may well be "Egads! What a bore!" But by sentence three or four, his clearly articulated, slightly adenoidal, British/American-accented speech pattern begins to grow on you and becomes quite engaging. You immediately get a hint of the humor that lies ahead, such as one of the innumerable reasons he longed to walk as many of the 2,100 miles of the Appalachian Trail as he could. "It would get me fit after years of waddlesome sloth" is delivered with glorious deadpan flair. By the time our storyteller recounts his trip to the Dartmouth Co-op, suffering serious sticker shock over equipment prices, you'll be hooked. When Bryson speaks for the many Americans he encounters along the way--in various shops, restaurants, airports, and along the trail--he launches into his American accent, which is whiny and full of hard r's. And his southern intonations are a hoot. He's even got a special voice used exclusively when speaking for his somewhat surprising trail partner, Katz. In the 25 years since their school days together, Katz has put on quite a bit of weight. In fact, "he brought to mind Orson Welles after a very bad night. He was limping a little and breathing harder than one ought to after a walk of 20 yards." Katz often speaks in monosyllables, and Bryson brings his limited vocabulary humorously to life. One of Katz's more memorable utterings is "flung," as in flung most of his provisions over the cliff because they were too heavy to carry any farther. The author has thoroughly researched the history and the making of the Appalachian Trail. Bryson describes the destruction of many parts of the forest and warns of the continuing perils (both natural and man-made) the Trail faces. He speaks of the natural beauty and splendor as he and Katz pass through, and he recalls clearly the serious dangers the two face during their time together on the trail. So, A Walk in the Woods is not simply an out-of-shape, middle-aged man's desire to prove that he can still accomplish a major physical task; it's also a plea for the conservation of America's last wilderness. Bryson's telling is a knee-slapping, laugh-out-loud funny trek through the woods, with a touch of science and history thrown in for good measure. (Running time: 360 minutes, four cassettes) --Colleen Preston (retrieved from Amazon Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:09:30 -0400) (see all 7 descriptions) ▾Library descriptions Traces the author's adventurous trek along the Appalachian Trail past its natural pleasures, human eccentrics, and offbeat comforts. » see all 17 descriptions |
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He was wrong. He took a long an old friend on this journey. He started in early March at the southern most tip of the trail and started to walk north. (the trail goes all the way to Maine). After walking for nearly 5 weeks, he came across a map that showed that they had barely touched the trail. He felt discouraged, and decided to go about this a different way. He wasn't FORCED to walk the trail - he was doing it for fun. So he decided to go to the parts of the trail he wanted to see - areas he wanted to accomplish.
In the end he walked over 800 miles of the trail. He was in better shape than he had ever been before. He met many people along the trail who he came to admire. He climbed tall mountains and got lost. He slept in a tent in the rain and trudged through several feet of snow. He said he hoped that during succeeding summers he would go back and see other parts of trail.
This was a great book. He was a great writer with wit which made the book an easy read. He talked candidly about the hardships he had on the trail, and the oddness of some of the people he met. He talked about how the trails are slowly going into disrepair due to the limited budget and low staff of the national park system. He talked about how different the trails look now to when they were first designed. I loved the side stories he told about the cities he visited and the states. Overall - he made me want to try it. Would I ever? No way. But the idea is what he makes you excited about.
Check this book out. It is one not to be missed. (