Buy Used/3rdParty

More product information

Find other editions of A Walk in the Woods (Softback, Hardback, Audio, E-Book)

Similar Products

Audio CD Description Bill Bryson has made a living out of traveling and then writing about it. In The Lost Continent he re-created the road trips of his childhood; in Neither Here nor There he retraced the route he followed as a young backpacker traversing Europe. When this American transplant to Britain decided to return home, he made a farewell walking tour of the British countryside and produced Notes from a Small Island. Once back on American soil and safely settled in New Hampshire, Bryson once again hears the siren call of the open road--only this time it's a trail. The Appalachian Trail, to be exact. In A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson tackles what is, for him, an entirely new subject: the American wilderness. Accompanied only by his old college buddy Stephen Katz, Bryson starts out one March morning in north Georgia, intending to walk the entire 2,100 miles to trail's end atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. If nothing else, A Walk in the Woods is proof positive that the journey is the destination. As Bryson and Katz haul their out-of-shape, middle-aged butts over hill and dale, the reader is treated to both a very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail, the people who created it, and the places it passes through. Whether you plan to make a trip like this one yourself one day or only care to read about it, A Walk in the Woods is a great way to spend an afternoon. --Alix Wilber

Customer Reviews Sometimes I chuckled but mostly I snored Let me just start out by saying that Bryson is a great writer. I have read his other book 'A Little History On Nearly Everything' and it was outstanding, chocked-full of information that blew me away. I was told that this book was funny by co-workers so I guess I had a different expectation. While the first couple chapters did have some funny parts the others were, in a word, boring. I love a beautiful natural scenery as much as anyone else but I really don't care about what particular trees are exstinct. This book was full of information and will be a great read if you are a true outdoors person, if not then do yourself a favor and move on to another book. A pleasure to read This isn't a perfect book. Like the author's hike along the Appalachian Trail, it has its ups and downs. But Bill Bryson has such an easy and inviting writing style that you can't help but be carried along, chuckling, sympathizing, understanding. This is the kind of book you might pick up and before you know it an hour has gone by. Bryson is witty, observant, and succinct. Unlike some outdoors writers who feel they have describe every leaf in the forest, Bryson shows that much can be told in short, colorful passages. When joined on the trail by his sometimes-hiking partner Stephen Katz, Bryson's narrative is at its best (we need more Katz!). Even in mundane settings, at cheap motels and muddy camping shelters, the author manages to have interesting encounters and describes them well. Along with the pains and travails of his hike, Bryson mixes in some history and an occasional lesson in natural science. He reminds us that much of what we take for granted is fragile, temporary and fleeting. He even manages to make the theory of continental drift entertaining: "The continents didn't just move in and out from each other in some kind of grand slow-motion square dance but spun in lazy circles, changed their orientation, went on cruises to the tropics and poles, made friends with smaller landmasses and brought them home." I do have some quibbles. Sometimes, Bryson goes off on an opinionated tangent (e.g., the National Park Service stinks) that doesn't fit in well. Also, some of the dialogue is just too perfectly funny; I have no doubt that he used plenty of literary license. Those are minor complaints, though. The book is a pleasure to read. Very uneven and sometimes preachy This not a bad book. Sections of it are quite enjoyable, in fact, but an uneven writing style and lapses into preachiness (even when appropriate) keep it from being a better book. I don't mind some commentary about the absurdity of things, but it comes a bit too often in a book supposedly about walking the Appalachian Trail. There is some profanity, more annoying due to its sudden use after some time without it than the fact that it's there at all. It's almost like Bryson thought, "Hey, I haven't been crude in a few pages so let me throw in a couple of pertinent words." Overall, I wouldn't recommend this as a book to purchase - check your local library for a copy.