A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

The turning point for me was the end of the first stage of the hike in Virginia. If it wasnt going to be a thru hike, he should have said so up front. When they skip up by rental car to Virginia, I was able to come to terms with that, but its only a good number of pages later that he obliquely describes that all along they were only going to hike for 6 and 1/2 weeks and Katz had a job lined up for summmer, etc. And when he finally says good bye at that point to Katz, he states that he doesnt think of Katz again for weeks. Apart from being very cold, could that possibly be true? (e.g. you mean he never mentioned Katz in trail stories he relates to his family during those weeks?) After that part of the book, my feel for it was not the same.

The humor was comprised way too much of putdowns, and he seems to dislike (and in a very juvenile way call "stupid" -- the scene with the cab drivers was particularly offending) almost everyone he encounters ( I would have really hated this book if I was a Southerner). Why be a travel writer if you dont like people? My guess - for the money.

Bryson and Katz are two hilarious, fat, old guys that decide to hike the trail, just cuz. It is a great story about their turmoils and proud moments and they sure take the reader on a fun journey across the landscape of the eastern United States!

Bryson provides a witty and hilarious travel narrative with this book! I laughed out loud several times (which I almost never do at books!) and also learned a lot of interesting facts about the trail in a very entertaining manner. I really enjoyed this read, it is fun and smart and a true gem!