A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Official Guides to the Appalachian Trail)

I bought this for my grandma. She loved to read, but recently her eyesight has gotten bad, so she can’t see to read books anymore. She recently moved to a retirement home and I know she doesn’t have a lot of ways to pass the time. She is most familiar with cassette tapes and players, but they are hard to find anymore. I’m so glad I was able to find this audiobook in good condition so I could give it to her. It came quickly and even had a nice handwritten note inside the package telling me they hoped I enjoy the book. I thought that was very kind. Thank you so much!

In his captivating memoir, 'A Walk in the Woods,' Bill Bryson embarks on an ambitious journey to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, a 2,190-mile footpath stretching from Georgia to Maine. This transformative experience not only tests Bryson's physical limits but also leads him to profound insights about himself, America, and the natural world.

Bryson, a seasoned travel writer, approaches the trail with a mix of trepidation and anticipation. Armed with a backpack filled with essential supplies and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor, he sets off on an adventure that will challenge his body, mind, and soul.

The journey is fraught with obstacles and setbacks. Bryson encounters bears, ticks, and torrential rain, but he also finds solace in the beauty of the wilderness and the camaraderie of fellow hikers. As he progresses along the trail, he delves into the history and lore of the Appalachian Mountains, sharing fascinating anecdotes and insights.

Through his candid observations and witty prose, Bryson paints a vivid portrait of the American landscape. He encounters a diverse cast of characters, from eccentric hikers to wise trail angels, who provide both inspiration and comic relief. Along the way, he explores the environmental challenges facing the trail and the importance of preserving its fragile ecosystems.

Beyond its physical and environmental aspects, 'A Walk in the Woods' is also a journey of self-discovery. Bryson reflects on his own aging body, his relationships, and his place in the world. Through the challenges and triumphs he faces on the trail, he gains a renewed appreciation for life and a deeper understanding of his own strengths and limitations.

Bryson's writing is both entertaining and thought-provoking. He weaves personal anecdotes with historical facts and scientific observations, creating a narrative that is both informative and engaging. His ability to find humor in even the most arduous situations makes the book a delightful read from start to finish.

'A Walk in the Woods' is a must-read for anyone who loves the outdoors, travel, or simply a well-written story. It is a testament to the transformative power of nature and the resilience of the human spirit. Bryson's journey will inspire readers to embrace their own adventures, both physical and emotional, and to appreciate the beauty and fragility of the world around them.

I am an avid reader. Yes, folks, I'm that annoying person who reads while standing in line, and even at red lights. I once finished an entire novel sitting in a doctor's waiting room-- but perhaps that says more about the doctor than it does about my reading abilities. haha. I also hold advanced degrees in both English and writing. I know good writing when I read it, and I have also stumbled wearily through books shoved at me from the hands of well meaning friends: "we know you love to read. Read this one and let me know what you think of it." Gah. Please don't be that person to your friends-- the frightful book foister. Please, I beg of you. Don't be that person. Don't make me flee from your presence like unfiled taxes fleeing from the IRS, to avoid said horrible book dumping.

Tiresome celebrity biographies, reminiscent of a painful 9th grade essay, sold merely because a famous name is on it . . . let's admit it-- what can they really "tell all" about, when their lives are already a literal (equally wearying) open book? Romance novels, with a close up of a muscular hand clutching a lacy red bustier on the front, which after several dreary pages makes me feel like ripping it, literally, in half, and throwing the book away. Cookbooks-- there are a few decent ones in this "here read this!" genre, but many of them are thrown together to make a sale, and let's face it-- when is the last time you actually made a recipe from an actual cookbook? Exactly. You throw it in the bag for the beach, thumb through a few pages while smearing on sunscreen, and then toss it in the 'ole bookshelf when you get home, where it is destined to live for the rest of readless, purgatorial eternity.

A friend recommended "A Walk in the Woods." Sigh, I thought. Another recommendation. I admire the "woods" from a distance, but I fear insects, snakes, vermin, rodents, and even the casual snap of a twig within their clutches. I do not camp. I do not eat camp food. I prefer to have my meals without a side of food poisoning. So you'd be right in thinking that my reaction was something like, "Ugh another referral. I will have less in common with this book than a Protestant would have with the Pope." I started it grudgingly, expecting to do the obligatory dragging of my eyes across the page until it was finally, relievingly, replete.

Boy was I in for a surprise.

Within the first few pages I surprised myself by chuckling. Then laughing. Then outright, from the gut, throwing back my head and howling. I stayed up until almost 1 AM that first night, devouring chapter after chapter, even though I had to be up early for work the next day. I just couldn't put it down. The writing is refreshingly honest-- at once thoughtful, hilarious, sarcastic, and downright well done. This is not the scribbling of a celebrity trying to sell books. This is the tale of someone who has truly lived a once in a lifetime kind of all-American experience. His observations about the conditions of the trails, the miraculous preservation efforts made by volunteers on the trail for decades, and even his views on life, are inspirational. His descriptions of the kooky characters, the beautiful, sweeping vistas of untouched wilderness that he discovered as he rounded thousands of wearying bends in the never-ending trails . . . it's magic. Pure magic. I can almost close my eyes and see it, so vivid are his descriptions of the meadows, the wildflowers, the soft sighing of the trees in the quiet breeze.

I've always said that the best kind of writing contains three elements. First, it is relevant/relate-able to all. It takes an incredible author to take a subject about which I have little interest (camping), and make it relevant and interesting to me, yet he does. Second, it should have humor-- not the "polite chuckle" kind of humor, but a real, genuine, gut laughing kind of humor, hidden delightfully throughout the text, waiting to surprise you like golden treasure where you would least think to look. Third, it should have moments of piercing, beautiful clarity-- moments when you find yourself, for reasons you almost can't explain, blinking back the tears as some particularly poignant thought resonates through your very being.

Bill Bryson delivers richly on all three counts. This book ended with my feeling deliciously and completely satiated, in every way. I laughed until my sides were sore, I cried at the honest, beautiful tendrils of his story as it wrapped its beautifully written arms around my heart. I shook my head solemnly with a deep, "Mmmm, yes" at the inspirations recorded within the story as he discovered, not just the beauty of the Appalachian Trail, but the beauty of life, warmth, family, and companionship. Perhaps the beauty of America is that a little bit of the magic resides in the heart of all of us. That's the message here. And it's a darned inspirational one.

I haven't done this often, but a few times in my life a book is so wonderful-- so stupendous-- that I just can't bear to end it. So the moment I finish, I move my bookmark back to chapter 1. Not ending-- just starting again.

My bookmark is resting in chapter 1 of this one.

Nobody does travelogues better than Bill Bryson, and A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail is a combination of funny, informative, reflective, depressing and thoroughly entertaining. It was an especially relevant read for me as my nephew just got done hiking 1/3 of the Appalachian Trail (AT) from Georgia to Virginia. It was interesting to compare his experiences with Bryson's.

Bryson moves back to the United States after a 20 year absence and his new hometown is Hanover, NH. He becomes interested in the Appalachian Trail as it passes through Hanover. He decides that he is going to walk the AT and the only volunteer that he can get to accompany him is an old college buddy and recovering alcoholic, Stephen Katz. Walking the trail "would get me fit after years of waddlesome sloth. It would be an interesting and reflective way to reacquaint myself with the scale and beauty of my native land after nearly 20 years of living abroad. It would be useful (I wasn't quite sure in what way, but I was sure nonetheless) to learn to fend for myself in the wilderness. When guys in camouflage pants and hunting hats sat around in the Four Acres Diner talking about fearsome things done out-of-doors, I would no longer have to feel like such a cupcake."

Bryson begins in Georgia and along the way, he talks about the fascinating history of the trail, "the granddaddy of long hikes." From Georgia to Maine, it transverses 2100+ miles. Thru hikers accomplish the entire trail in one trip. Section hikers may hike the entire trail, but a section at a time. Sometimes it takes years or even decades to walk the entire AT. Hikers must carry everything they need including tents, sleeping bags, cooking utensils, food, water, clothes, and personal items. Most packs weigh between 40-50 pounds. For most of the trip, hikers are out of range of cell phones, internet access and electricity. Towns along the way to purchase more food and supplies can be miles off the trail. Of all those who start the AT, "no more than 10 percent actually make it. Half don't even make it past central Virginia, less than a third of the way. A quarter get no farther than North Carolina, the next state. As many as 20 percent drop out the first week."

Some of Bryson's experiences were funny (especially with side-kick Katz) and some were quite awesome. But there is also lots to be depressed about on the AT. Animals have become extinct. Songbirds have decreased by 50% and their decline continues each year. Blights and diseases have already killed off the chestnuts and elms and are threatening other species. The National Park Service is being starved for funding as visitor numbers soar. "Campsites and interpretation centers have been shut, warden numbers slashed, and essential maintenance deferred." And then there are the injuries and deaths caused by wildlife, accidents, stupidity, and even crimes (although overall, the AT is not a crime-ridden locale). Hiking the AT is not to be taken lightly.

You will have to read A Walk in the Woods to see if Bryson achieves his goal of walking the entire trail. But the author definitely learned some important lessons along the way. "I learned to pitch a tent and sleep beneath the stars. For a brief, proud period I was slender and fit. I gained a profound respect for wilderness and nature and the benign dark power of woods. I understand now, in a way I never did before, the colossal scale of the world. I found patience and fortitude that I didn't know I had. I discovered an America that millions of people scarcely know exists." Too bad that more of us don't get an opportunity to disconnect from the modern world and connect with nature on such a personal level.

I have a confession to make. I'm an avid memoir reader, and travel memoirs are a favorite. I've literally read hundreds of memoirs, but I'd never read anything by Bill Bryson before. "Why not?" I hear you cry. Well I've remedied it now. I'm not a hiker, but I love hiking books, and have read many about hiking the AT. This is up there with the best. As you would expect, it's well-written with no typos or grammatical errors, and the prose is excellent. There are also many laugh out loud moments. Strange to think that a book written in 1996 is historical, but it is definitely of its time, and that time has moved on. Some of Bryson's views seem rather archaic, viewed from the perspective of 2024, and some of his remarks are unpolitically correct. But all in all, a good read with lots of interesting facts about the Trail, and plenty of history - always a plus for me. However, if you want a book about the camaraderie of the trail, there are many better books out there. This is focused mainly on Bryson and his friend Katz, who walks the trail with him. Having said all that, I'd recommend this book.

A humorous and thoughtful examination of subtle relationship experiences set against the backdrop of wilderness adventures and the undertaking of walking the Appalachian Trail. Amusing anecdotes quipped between Bryson and his walking partner Katz takes us along on this once in a lifetime adventure of difficult terrain, unpredictable weather, and breathtaking beauty all combined to make this a fun and in places, funny, read. Bryson is a master at painting with words so that the reader is drawn into the story visually and audibly. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

Bill Bryson is put himself into the wilderness to tackle the infinitely long hike of the Appalachian Trail in the autobiography A Walk in the Woods. I chose this book mostly because I had just come from learning a little about the wilderness in school and I thought the class was interesting. The title made me think of the class, so I thought I should give it a try. The story follows Bill Bryson and his friend Katz as they scale the Appalachian Trail. It tells of the hardships he endures, the views he witnesses, and the people he meets along the way. I would recommend this book to read to people.

Bill Bryson uses various elements to help try and bring his experience on the trail to life for the reader. He used styles such as similes and metaphors, and also he did a good amount of showing rather than telling. This is one description he uses to describe one part of the trail; “They [woods] make you feel small and confused and vulnerable, like a small child lost in a crowd of strange legs,” (Bryson, 44). I found and lot of descriptions interesting and ones that pulled my attention. They were able to put pictures in my head of what the environment he was in was like. They might not be able to relate to younger audiences, but teens in high school and up would be able to enjoy and appreciate them. The author’s style of writing can also be tied into how he describes characters in the story.

I do not think that I can relate to Bill Bryson’s experiences, because I have never been put into the wilderness like he has. He has done something That I do not think I could tackle right now. As for the characters in his book I feel that I can relate meeting people who act like some of the people that he did. I believe that the characters were well rounded and each had their own kind of personality. Katz, the hiking partner of Bryson, is one such character who I believe has a dynamic personality. In his first conversation with Bryson after meeting face to face Bryson adds that “He saw my look of wonder. ‘Snickers,’ he explained. ‘Lots and lots of Snickers,’” (Bryson, 22). He helps give us an accurate painting of the person by not only how they look, but also the conversations that they have with others. I found myself either liking a character or feeling neutral toward them, except in the case of one or two people Bryson meets along the way.

The whole book is in chronological order; there is no trying to fill in what part of the story goes where to put it in order. Throwing the reader in the middle of the book may have not made much difference either way. The book was able to hold my attention for the most part, but some times I did find myself wishing I could skip over a section of the reading. These parts are placed at the beginning of the chapters. They do not pertain to the story so much. They are around for background information about the Appalachian Trail or something that is related to it. The information was helpful in some case, but they also seemed stretched out and long. However, the book was interesting and I was tuned into reading when the actual story was brought back. It became more interesting when he started talking about the views he experienced in the forest. In one part the author describes the trail by saying, “Best of all, there were views, luscious and golden, to left and right,” (Bryson, 124). It was at these parts that I was brought back into the story.

The book tells an interesting story of one person’s experience in the woods and is humorous in sections of the reading. However, I so not believe that everyone will get into this book. I did enjoy my mountaineering class in school, but I did find this book hard to stick with at some parts. This book may only be for those who find hiking enjoyable and want to learn about a trail of the U.S. that is not heard about that much.

This was the first Bill Bryson book that I have read, and it definitely won't be my last.

Bryson, a middle-aged guy who is probably more of walker than the average American but no hiking or fitness god, decides to hike the Appalachian Trail, and he takes us along on the journey. In between some hilarious anecdotes about the journey and the characters he encounters on the trail, he offers a summary of some very interesting books about the AT and some amazing stories about other folks who have made the journey, along with a lot of information about nature, conservation, and the ever-inept Forest Service.

He dedicates the book "To Katz, Of Course," and it soon becomes clear why. Katz is the inept hiking buddy who volunteers to join Bryson on the AT after Bryson has read enough about bear attacks and other dangers to be appropriately daunted at the thought of facing the AT alone. When we meet Katz, it appears that will be more of a liability than an asset. So, which was he? I will leave that to you, dear reader. This is supposed to be a review, not a spoiler. I will simply say that the book is alive when Katz is present -- and by "alive," I mean that you should not have food in your mouth when you are reading because you will be laughing too hard to keep the food in your mouth...not that I'd know...

As I read, I found myself trying to cast the movie version of the book. I've decided that, if he were willing to put on a substantial amount of weight, David Arquette would be perfect for the part. Then again, John Goodman might be just right...or Paul Giamatti...with someone like Tom Hanks to be Bryson, his straight man. Then again, maybe we should make things interesting and cast Samuel L. Jackson as Bryson. But, I digress. A Walk in the Woods is the sort of fun, meandering book that makes one think these kinds of thoughts.

I found myself impressed at the perseverence -- and progress -- of two guys who, by their own estimation, had no business even attempting the Appalachian Trail. The hiking partners seem to be hitting their mountain-man stride (such as it is) about halfway through the book, at which point, they take a disappointing hiatus and never quite regain their momentum. The second half of the book covers the portions of the journey that Bryson undertook without Katz, and then the book concludes with Bryson and Katz reuniting to take on the northernmost -- and most treacherous -- part of the journey. And just how did that go? Well, that would be telling...but I will say that neither the book nor the hike are fun without Katz.

As a reader, I got the sense that the first part of the hike was a terrifying, thrilling, exhausting, challenging, life-affirming experience, and that the second part was phoned in with a sense of, "How do we wrap this up?" I am almost prepared to make this a criticism of the writer...but I suspect that Bryson is better than that, and that he was simply taking the reader along with how the journey felt to him. If that was his intent, he succeeded. The first half of the book was a pee-in-your-pants funny page-turner, and the second half was a tedious are-we-there-yet? experience.

Overall, the book was definitely worth the journey. Whether you are a seasoned hiker or a couch potato who wonders why anyone would ever want to bother walking anywhere they didn't have to, A Walk in the Woods is an worthwhile ramble over 2100 miles -- give or take -- with a couple of wry, cynical, amiable buddies. And if you find yourself skimming the parts where Katz is not present, don't feel bad; I think that maybe the author did that too.

Bill Bryson is probably best known for his travel memoirs, but before "A Walk in the Woods," the only one of his books I'd read was "The Mother Tongue," a delightfully rambling exploration of the English language. I've since read reviews in which people who seem to know what they're talking about claim that "The Mother Tongue" is more entertaining than it is accurate, but of course, language is an eternally complex and controversial subject. I enjoyed Bryson's wit and style, and I figured he probably couldn't go wrong narrating an adventure of his own rather than trying to convey to the reader the complexity of Finnish verb conjugations. After the juicy trainwreck that was Cheryl Strayed's "Wild," I was in the mood for a hiking memoir without the melodrama and psychobabble, something down-to-earth and smart and at least as much about the actual trail as about the author's metaphorical "journey." The deliciously understated title of Bryson's account of his 1996 attempt to tackle the Appalachian Trail promised exactly what I was looking for.

Oh, "A Walk in the Woods" could have been good. It could have been SO GOOD. For the most part, it actually was. The first couple of chapters had me almost shivering with delight at Bryson's curmudgeonly humor and self-deprecating wit, and once, I even laughed out loud. Bryson is the kind of unpretentious, straightforwardly spot-on prose stylist that makes good writing look terrifically easy. Throughout the book, he balances action and description, narrative momentum and entertaining diversions, with a masterful hand. Whatever subject Bryson takes up, be it continental drift or bear attacks or early American amateur botanists or a Pennsylvania coal fire that's burned for over thirty years (over fifty, as of the writing of this review) or the history of the trail itself, becomes instantly and effortlessly fascinating.

What almost ruined "A Walk in the Woods" for me, however, was almost every scene in which Bill Bryson interacts with other human beings. The traveling companion with whom Bryson shares most of his walk, Stephen Katz (a somewhat fictionalized version of his friend Matthew Angerer), is portrayed unflatteringly but ultimately with affection, and the book is dedicated to him. (Angerer has admitted in interviews that he's not thrilled about how Bryson portrays him, but it's a pretty accurate portrayal aside from a few fabricated or exaggerated incidents.) Almost everyone else Bryson meets on the trail, however, becomes an object of mockery. The gentle good humor of the first few chapters quickly turns nasty. It was funny when Bryson listed "loony hillbillies destabilized by gross quantities of impure corn liquor and generations of profoundly unbiblical sex" along with "rattlesnakes and water moccasins and nests of copperheads; bobcats, bears, coyotes, wolves, and wild boar; . . . rabies-crazed skunks, raccoons, and squirrels; merciless fire ants and ravening blackfly; poison ivy, poison sumac, poison oak, and poison salamanders; even a scattering of moose lethally deranged by a parasitic worm" in a catalogue of the trail's potential perils, but it stopped being funny when I realized he actually meant it: Bryson honestly expects the Appalachian woods to be full of violent, inbred stereotypes incarnate.

Look, I'm a bit of a curmudgeon myself. I love laughing at human stupidity. Nobody laughs louder than I do when Bill Engvall does his "Here's Your Sign" routine. However, Bryson's need to sneer at the intellectual poverty of nearly everyone he meets says more about him than it does about any of them. Towards the end of the book, he asks a fellow hiker he meets at a guesthouse a question he has to admit is "a trifle" inane, the sort of thing he's spent 250 pages mocking other people for saying, and then he has the gall to describe the manner of her answer as "serenely mindless." (When she and her traveling companion pray over their meal and credit God with helping them keep a positive attitude despite the rigors of the trail, Bryson "made a mental note to lock my door when I went to bed.") The first time Bryson decides to skip a portion of the trail, it's because the citizens of Tennessee are too stupid for his liking. (Even if Tennesseans were as cretinous as Bryson makes them out to be, it's unclear why that should matter when he's spending most of his time in the state alone in the woods.) If there's anything Bryson dislikes even more than stupid people, it's fat people. He himself admits at the beginning of the book to being somewhat less than svelte after "years of waddlesome sloth," and at the end that his exertions on the trail left him "slender and fit" for "a brief, proud period," which is implied to be long over. Other fat people, however, including his friend Katz, are just plain ridiculous and disgusting. Bryson professes admiration for a 350-pound man who thru-hiked the trail (which Bryson himself never even seriously attempted), but clearly doesn't admire him enough to refrain from calling him a "human beachball," or dismissing the 53 pounds the man lost as "a trifle, all things considered." Fat women, or any other female who doesn't meet Bryson's standard of attractiveness, who dare to express sexual interest in a man are simply beneath contempt. In perhaps the single meanest anecdote in a book liberally peppered with meanness, Bryson introduces us to "a charmless, gum-popping waitress who declined to be heartened by our wholesome smiles . . . let's call her Betty Slutz." Actually, there's no need to call her anything, since she's never mentioned again after this page - and the misogyny of the insult is purely gratuitous, since her behavior as Bryson describes it is surly, not sexually provocative.

Bryson's apparent delight in fault-finding carries over to the trail itself, although with less petty meanness. Anyone who heads out into the wilderness with a backpack has earned the right to grumble-brag a bit about aches and privations, but Bryson doesn't actually seem to enjoy the hike or really understand why he's doing it, except that he got the notion into his head and can't back out now (why do I get the feeling the fancy camping gear he buys was paid for with a publisher's advance?). He wishes the trail were a bit less wild, less wooded, more in contact with at least the fringes of civilization, even though he's profoundly unimpressed with nearly all of the towns it does pass through. (Most hikers, after several days or weeks in the woods, are nearly ecstatic for a chance to take a shower, eat a hot meal or two, sleep for a night in a proper bed, and listen awhile to the hum of human conversation before heading back out on the trail, but not Bryson: he wants cul-chah and refinement, or something.) He raises some valid criticisms of the National Park Service, but doesn't give them any credit for the things they actually have accomplished. Perhaps most damning, Bryson rails against acid rain and accidentally-imported tree diseases, but he treats Katz's littering, which he actually had the power to do something about, as a big joke.

Perhaps I'm doing a bit of a Bryson myself here, pointing out all the flaws of something I basically enjoyed. If I can't recommend "A Walk in the Woods" wholeheartedly, well, neither do I mean to say you shouldn't read it. Most of this book is a pleasure to read, both entertaining and informative, and often very funny. If you're considering a thru-hike (or even a substantial section-hike) of the Appalachian Trail, you'll want to read some accounts by those who have actually hiked the whole way, or made a serious attempt to do so. (Bryson hikes only about two-fifths of the trail; that's no mean accomplishment, especially since more than half that distance he was backpacking hardcore in Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia, but he skipped or day-hiked nearly everything above the Mason-Dixon line - ironic, considering his utter disdain for the South.) For the armchair traveler, however, it's excellent fun and a journey well worth taking. I wish only that Bill Bryson had been better company along the way.