Last week I read A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson. I normally don’t read popular books of this genre. However contrary to that statement, I have reviewed several popular “hiking” books over the past few months.
This is a good one.
Category Archives: Book Review
Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart, the book
An Adventure On The Pacific Crest Trail, by Carrot Quinn
This is a book I shouldn’t have read. This is a book I thoroughly enjoyed.
Continue reading Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart, the book
Rabid, the book
In 2013, during a 5 month period, Libby Zangle hiked all 2,663 miles of the 2,663 mile Pacific Crest Trail. In 2014 she published Rabid: The Pacific Crest Tail. ‘Cause Therapy Ain’t Working. There was no endorsement from Oprah; Rabid is not on any best seller list. Libby isn’t famous. She isn’t a hero.
If this paragraph sounds familiar to you, then you read my post Wild, the book, where I wrote:
In 1995, during a 3 month period, Cheryl Strayed hiked 1,100 miles of the 2,663 mile Pacific Crest Trail. In 2012 she published Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. After an endorsement from Oprah, Wild topped the best seller lists. Cheryl became famous. She is a hero to many people.
There is no similarity between either women or either book.
Wild, the book
In 1995, during a 3 month period, Cheryl Strayed hiked 1,100 miles of the 2,663 mile Pacific Crest Trail. In 2012 she published Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. After an endorsement from Oprah, Wild topped the best seller lists. Cheryl became famous. She is a hero to many people.
In 2014 Wild was released as a motion picture, starring Reese Weatherspoon as Cheryl Strayed.
The online backpacking community (whatever that is) has been less than enthusiastic about Wild. Normally I don’t read these kinds of books – you know, the journey of self-discovery where nature solves all of a person’s problems.
Book Review: Grandma Gatewood’s Walk
A Good Read
In 1955, at the age of 67, Emma Gatewood walked the entire 2,000+ mile Appalachian Trail (AT). This is a quick review of the book, Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman who Saved the Appalachian Trail, by Ben Montgomery.
What makes this book a good read isn’t necessarily Mr. Montgomery’s writing ability, but that Emma Gatewood was such an incredible person. Before her through-hike of the AT, not many people had heard of the trail that runs from Georgia north to Maine, and only a handful had hiked it in its entirety. Emma would become the first woman to complete it. No one before or after her did more to popularize the trail.