A Walk in the Woods

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 bodies 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

Reader Reviews:

How NOT to walk the Appalachian Trail (0/0 people found this helpful)

I've been a Bryson fan since a British friend gave me a copy of "The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America" years ago -- what, I wonder, was his point??

"A Walk in the Woods" is more entertaining if you've read "Notes from a Small Island" (1997). In that book, Bryson takes a walking trip around Britain, his home of nearly 20 years, before returning to live in the States. When you walk around Britain, you can take the train on the hard bits and have a pub meal and bed every night if you like.

The irony, then, of Bryson comparing the Appalachian Trail to that experience!

"A Walk in the Woods" is a laughing-out-loud book but as usual with Bryson, his writing is well researched and the informative parts are presented in an offbeat and personal way -- without detracting from their clarity. His reconnection with American social and environmental history is well presented

This book is an object lesson on how NOT to undertake a project like the AT -- yet it almost makes you believe you could do it! Or at least that you owe it to yourself to try.

Who needs therapy when you can read this. (1/1 people found this helpful)

This book is better than comfort food and much less fattening. If ever I feel a bit down, I pick this up and re-read it. It totally takes me out of myself while I'm reading it. His humour is spot on and he gives a real sense of the challenge they took on. I just love this book and if ever I had to pick one book only to read it would be this one, it's not an intellectual book, it's not a pretentious book that you feel you 'should' read, it's just a warm, well written bit of time out from life and I think it's fab!

Painfully funny from start to finish. (2/2 people found this helpful)

If you are new to Bryson AWITW is a great book with which to start your discovery. Truly laugh-out-loud moments are on almost every page. Superb.

"I had never encountered anything so hard, for which I was so ill prepared." (11/14 people found this helpful)

Returning to the US after living in England for twenty years, Bill Bryson becomes intrigued with the idea of the hiking the Appalachian Trail, a portion of which is in his New Hampshire backyard. The 2100-mile trail from Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine winds through virgin forest and scenes of incredible natural beauty and provide an unparalleled opportunity to be alone and reflective.

Bryson's sense of adventure and his enthusiasm hold him in good stead as he sets off in Georgia, though he has little idea of how difficult it will be to hike 15 or more miles a day, up and down mountains with forty pounds of gear, including a tent, on his back. He is accompanied by Stephen Katz, an acquaintance from Iowa with whom he once traveled in Europe, who is even more out of shape than he is. The contrast between the attitudes of the two men--Bryson, enthusiastic, and Katz, grimly concerned (and complaining) about the difficulties--reflect, between them, the attitudes of virtually any reader of this amusing and thoughtful travelogue. Additional kooky characters appear throughout this account to add humor and complexity to the hike.

Bryson is a fine observer of nature, and as he and Katz travel for six weeks from Georgia through the Carolinas into the Shenandoah National Park, he includes much background about the trail and its history, and about the record of the National Forest Service and the National Parks Service, both of which he finds shocking. The National Forest Service is the largest builder of highways in the country, providing access for logging operations in the forests. The National Parks Service has a hands-off policy regarding the protection of endangered species of trees, which are dying due to global warming, diseases, and pollution.

At the end of six weeks, Bryson and Katz end the first phase of the hike and return to their homes. The book loses some of its narrative momentum and its humor when Bryson returns months later to continue part of the trail alone--the reader misses Katz and his complaints--and Bryson becomes more philosophical and more critical of governmental policy in the latter part of the book. Overall, however, this is a fascinating account of a trail that traverses a major part of the eastern landscape, and Bryson beautifully conveys his awe for its magnificent scenery. To the extent that its species are vanishing and its forests are dying, it is also a wake-up call to all concerned citizens. n Mary Whipple

Wonderfully funny (7/7 people found this helpful)

Two chracteristics that are fantastic to have are humour and wit and Bill Bryson has them in abundance. To write humour with such a comanding voice is an admirable quality indeed. The book is well written, planned, informative and funny.
My only comment is that towards the end the geographical, historical and geological information became a bit repetitive and I did find my interest waning. Aside from this it is another solid effort from a fantastic author.

Bill Bryson

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