Are You Kidding Me?? A Walk in the Woods

[rocketsocks]

Nice sentiment!

thankssailsetgoodtoseeyoubackpostinggladyourhikewa sgreat.hehe,thanks glad your back

[rocketsocks]

One of my favorite scenes, only it was from Casino, not Goodfellas.

See acadeemia;lack of movie knowledge

[rocketsocks]

Youhadme, athello. ...

I kinda like bramble bush,it's more earthy..crunchy

Really Driver 8,it's not a big deal to me,I comfortable with my textuality.

[Mishigami Manitou]

krakauer is actually a pretty good writer. his "eiger dreams" is a collection of short stories he wrote before into thin air. devils tooth is a must read.

I'll have to pick that one up - maybe for my section hike this summer. I like Krakauer a lot, it's just the whole thing with McCandless being touted as a sympathetic character had me scratching my head. He just seemed so much of a Darwin award winner that I had a hard time feeling sorry for the guy - or even being interested in his plight.

I love climbing books. I'll give Eiger Dreams a look. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Biggie Master]

... it's not a big deal to me,I comfortable with my textuality.

It's only right to be comfortable in your own keyboard!

[rocketsocks]

It's only right to be comfortable in your own keyboard!

I am master of my domain.when my wife's not around.but I'm still not taking english lessons,I prefer french.

[rocketsocks]

Time to put this train back on the tracks.

Bill Bryson is the best writter that ever lived

[Driver8]

Really Driver 8,it's not a big deal to me,I comfortable with my textuality.

notthatthere's,anythingwrong.. with that.

[Driver8]

PS: You can call me Chris, if you like.

Cheers,

C.S., a/k/a Driver 8, a/k/a Arkie_in_CT

[rocketsocks]

notthatthere's,anythingwrong.. with that.

Thank you for fixing,hehehe

[rocketsocks]

Time to put this train back on the tracks.

Bill Bryson is the best writter that ever lived

Ever..............

[bamboo bob]

[QUOTE=MJW155;1305269] Every hiker I met that brough the book up hates Bryson. It's like they feel betrayed.' You didn't meet me. I've done the AT three times , I read Bryson and enjoyed it. In fact it inspired me to do it the first time. I figured if Katz could do it so could I.

[Driver8]

I loved it, and it got me into hiking, in fits and starts. I do appreciate the anger about littering willy nilly, but I consider that we all rape and despoil our home planet an awful lot, with few exceptions among us, so the absurdist telling of probably an exaggerated tale of a fat would-be hiker desperately dumping poundage, well, as a formerly fat, out-of-shape, and still chubby though in better shape hiker, I got a kick out of it and, vicariously, identified with it.

Indeed, reckon I'm gonna retrieve my copy from the friend I loaned it to and give it another read before long.

[Astro]

I think this is probably where I see the divide of people who liked the book and those who did not. The idea of littering, not just dropping a candy wrapper, but extreme littering that at best deserves serious beating, is basically sacrilegious to some of us who grew up under different standards. To give you an extreme example: I'm sure someone can write an eloquent and very funny book about the holocaust but there are certain standards where majority of us would reject the humor and not continue to read such book any further. For me, someone who has backpacked since early childhood, the book crossed a line. I don't care he didn't finish the trail. I don't mind he's made mistakes but I am annoyed he has not learned any ethics prior to venturing onto the trail. I am annoyed that as a writer who has done some research about the trail before and afterwards he would still consider this trail desecration as humorous. He has shown to be an arrogant a$$hole about the things I hold dear. Such person will not get my business in the form of readership. No respect.

I personally enjoyed the book and it inspired me to start hiking the AT, and thus have positive thoughts about it. But you in my opinion have done the best job of explaining why some do not like it. Having grown up in South Florida and knowing the evil of Castro and his regime, I know and appreciate why we have an embargo with Cuba, while many people from the rest of USA do not understand why we can not just treat them like any other country. Thank you for sharing this point. While I still think it is a funny book that had a postive influence on me personaly, I now better understand why you and others find it offensive.

[Miner]

I never even realized you could hike a long trail like the PCT or AT as one long trip until I read Byrson's book. Until then, I had assume you would have to do it in 2 week sections carrying all your supplies and dealing with the nightmare of finding transportation each time was very discouraging to my dreams of hiking the entire PCT. Now that I have thru-hiked the PCT and am about to start my AT journey with future plans for the CDT, I'm very grateful to Bryson for opening my eyes to thru-hiking, even if he humorously failed at his. Though I have to admit that I didn't enjoy rereading his book nearly as much 10 years latter as I had changed.

[OzJacko]

I have 6 copies of the book and am chasing about 7 more.....
No I'm not completely mad.
Last year I put 13 copies of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in consecutive (the southern 13 - campfires prohibited) huts on my local track. The idea is you can read, leave, and pick up reading at next hut.
Most are still there (the ones near road access "walked") and I am going out soon to replace the missing and add Walk in the Woods to them.
The book has been a major factor in me wanting to go all the way over th'ar to walk the AT and I hope others will enjoy it.
He actually walked enough to have thru-hiked my track.

[Sampson]

If you want to be read, you'll show the courtesy of spaces and punctuation. Perfection is not the standard - heck, I'd never meet that one, with my absent mind. But some measure of readability is. As I said, WHEN I can read your stuff, Socks, it's often amusing and interesting. I'd like to be able to. But I increasingly find myself giving it a quick effort, deciding it's too much of a bramble bush, and deciding - not worth the effort. If that's your goal, your meeting it with ever-greater success, with me, at least.

I hate to call you, or anyone else, out like that for grammar and spelling, but you are by far the worst I've seen here or on most any board in almost two decades of interwebbing. Carriage return. Spaces. Commas, hyphens. You can do it, man! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ2HcRl4wSk

You're meeting it. Note to self: When playing the grammar nazi on the inter webs, definitely a good idea to get the your/you're thing right first.

[Ladytrekker]

I believe Katz to be Bryson's alter ego. The book is funny I got some laughs from it but also enjoyed the history of the mountains that he threw in there I mean how of the hikers has read about the history such as why Blood Mountain got its name. I think it makes the area more alive to know its history.

[Driver8]

You're meeting it. Note to self: When playing the grammar nazi on the inter webs, definitely a good idea to get the your/you're thing right first.

And when attacking someone for hypocrisy, it's helpful to read his post. Thoroughly. You must have missed the part about perfection not being the standard and my clearly being unable to meet it. Rocketsocks and I are on friendly terms, and I believe he understands the constructive spirit in which my posts were intended. Not sure I see a constructive purpose to yours, but I'll try and give you the benefit of the doubt, Sampson.

[Sampson]

And when attacking someone for hypocrisy, it's helpful to read his post. Thoroughly. You must have missed the part about perfection not being the standard and my clearly being unable to meet it. Rocketsocks and I are on friendly terms, and I believe he understands the constructive spirit in which my posts were intended. Not sure I see a constructive purpose to yours, but I'll try and give you the benefit of the doubt, Sampson.

If you really wanted to do something in the "constructive spirit," you should have pm'd him. Your post was designed to entertain us all at Rocket's expense --- nothing more, nothing less. Did you really think you were the guy to let the cat out of the bag? I'm sure he had no idea until you told him. Thanks so much for enlightening us all.