View Full Version : What do you read on the trail?
I'm pouring over the different book choices I have for the AT. There're about 15 to choose from and I want to make the right decision because this book will get read and reread and, I believe, will impact me in some way as it will accompany me throughout my journey.
So I'm looking at things like the I Ching, various nature writings, etc., and on the other hand, books that amuse and entertain like the Oz series (I know, I'm a little kid inside). Do you have trouble concentrating on more intellectual stuff when you stop on the trail? What books have you brought/would you bring?
An obscure book from a late 19th/early 20th century Canadian naturist, Ernest Thomas Seton. Basically, ten or so short stories detailing the lives of different animals from birth to death, but done in a way that gives individual life to each animal. Just brilliant. Not sentimental or schmaltzy but somehow as affecting a book as I have ever read.
Great way to get out of your own head and see life in the forest thru the lives of other animals.
It's possible to find reading material along the way. People leave books in shelters, and many hostels have a "leave a book/take a book" shelf or two. So unless you have a text you particularly want to study, I'd just go with the flow, realizing your books have a good chance of getting wet and dirty...
Marta/Five-Leaf
PS--I reread the Lord of the Rings series, which is always a good choice for someone on a journey. Puts your trials and tribulations on the AT in perspective. ;-) I also read a number of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. In between I read some found books.
Small thin paperbacks. The last few I've read were To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Grapes of Wrath, and Cannery Row by Steinbeck.
OK, Grapes of Wrath is not very thin. But it's an amazing book.
bigcranky
03-27-2007, 07:26
Recently in my pack: Travels with Charley, The Hobbit, and Letters from Yellowstone. All good for section hikers, but I wouldn't want to read them over and over and over again on a thru. (I like Marta's suggestion of LOTR - that'll last awhile.)
BlackCloud
03-27-2007, 09:12
Read one of the books concerning some of the murders that have occurred on the AT.
Makes the nites more interesting.....:-?
This year I'm bringing "Culture Warrior" by Bill O'Reilly, "Let Freedom Ring" by Sean Hannity, and "Godless" by Ann Coulter.
max patch
03-27-2007, 11:11
I always carried 2 paperbacks with me; my wife also mailed me the Sunday local sports page and SI. I read the same type books on the trail as I do off the trail.
It would have been an ideal time to read the Bible and I regret that I didn't take the opportunity to do so.
max patch
03-27-2007, 11:12
Small thin paperbacks.
C'mon Mowgli, fess up.
atkentucky
03-27-2007, 11:17
I read probably 10 books on the trail. Everytime that i finished one, amazingly there was one at the next shelter. So i just dropped the one i finished and took the new one.
Also many libraries give free paperbacks to hikers, and many hostels have lots of books you can exchange out.
And The Necronomicon, by the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred (almost forgot).
Atlas Shrugged
or
The Fountainhead
Atlas Shrugged
or
The Fountainhead
Excellent choices.
This year I'm bringing "Culture Warrior" by Bill O'Reilly, "Let Freedom Ring" by Sean Hannity, and "Godless" by Ann Coulter.
I hear the three of them are also collaborating on "Mein Kampf II: Mein Way or Else"...
Lone Wolf
03-28-2007, 19:58
current reader's digest
Crossword puzzle books are light, cheap and entertaining. Plus they help expand one's, uh... whatchamakallit... 10 letters, starts with a "v"...
current reader's digest
Yup, and it comes in handy when going to the privy.
I hear the three of them are also collaborating on "Mein Kampf II: Mein Way or Else"...I did it mien way......!
-Frank Sinatra
Actually, I dumped the other two books, they sucked, but "Godless" by Ann Coulter is the greatest nonfiction book of this decade, easily.
I did it mien way......!
-Frank Sinatra
You realize, of course, that this song will now be stuck in your head for the next 2000+ miles and you will begin cursing my name by Virginia if not before. I hope to see a video or at least a picture of you posted to WB later this year singing it on top of Mt. Katahdin. Go Frank go!!
Have a great hike!:D
TRAP LINES NORTH (how can one read the same book and not be tired of it, 50-70 x!)
recent:
Between a rock and a hard place- Aron Rolston (guy that cut his arm off)
anything non-fiction about the Cold War and Submarines operating in it
dont really care for fiction, prefering a good non-fiction book.
Lone Wolf
03-29-2007, 11:08
Yup, and it comes in handy when going to the privy.
yeah, if you enjoy wiping your ass with glossy, rigid paper.:rolleyes:
cannonball
03-29-2007, 11:41
Lonesome dove. Nothing like a good cattle drive story.
Thanks for all the responses! I think I've decided upon a book on Native American Healing; it seems both useful and interesting.
Hiker7s...if it's long enough, and really great, I can easily read the same book over and over. Some, like the Tao Te Ching, are meant to be reread, but others like The BFG just ASK for it. If it's a book that teaches me something I always find there's something new for me in it the second or third time around.
Sleepy the Arab
03-29-2007, 18:32
Anything free. Any mass market that happens to be laying in a shelter, although I ended up regretting not taking Ender's Game from Tom Leonard shelter. A friend has been recomending the book to me for the better part of a decade. Typically, I go through 6-7 books per thru-hike.*
In town, I go through countless magazines (Time, Newsweek, and the ubiquitous Readers Digests to name a few) that may be laying about in the hostel/town pavilion/whatever, and maybe buy a few. I'm also a fan of newspapers (entertaining and cheap!), usually picking up a USA Today (available anywhere) and a local paper, hopefully something from a nearby city.
*Sad that I have this down to a statistic, isn't it? Also sad is that I know where to go for the best magazine selection in certain trail towns, and in which towns it really isn't worth looking.
yeah, if you enjoy wiping your ass with glossy, rigid paper.:rolleyes:
If the Sears catalog was good enough for my Gramps after walking 6 miles home in 3 feet of snow when he was a kid, then the Reader's Digest is good enough for me. ;)
You realize, of course, that this song will now be stuck in your head for the next 2000+ miles and you will begin cursing my name by Virginia if not before. I hope to see a video or at least a picture of you posted to WB later this year singing it on top of Mt. Katahdin. Go Frank go!!
Have a great hike!:Doh.
you.
Bastard.
Pokey2006
03-30-2007, 05:12
Hikers are WAY too serious when it comes to reading material. C'mon, this is summer vacation! You worked hard all day, spent hours by yourself, thinking and thinking and thinking. Who wants to actually THINK at the end of the night? Which is why I go for mindless, DIRTY BOOKS! Like, "His Wicked Promise," or "The Magnificent Rogue." Or just a People magazine. Why not?
DIRTY BOOKS!
Dirty books for dirty people?
Hmmm.
Five-Leaf
oh.
you.
Bastard.
No need to thank me, really...
What about Audio Books?
Has any one found a source for books recorded in mp3 format? How big is a typical book, in bytes. (Free downloads first choicee, of course!<G>)
1 GB SD cards are cheap enough these days. Would a full length novel fit into that size??
The weight advantages are obvious.
Tom
saimyoji
03-30-2007, 10:58
Hikers are WAY too serious when it comes to reading material. C'mon, this is summer vacation! You worked hard all day, spent hours by yourself, thinking and thinking and thinking. Who wants to actually THINK at the end of the night? Which is why I go for mindless, DIRTY BOOKS! Like, "His Wicked Promise," or "The Magnificent Rogue." Or just a People magazine. Why not?
Hmmm..."Pokey" likes dirty books...perhaps you should explain your trail name. :-?
Or perhaps not. :rolleyes:
What about Audio Books?
Has any one found a source for books recorded in mp3 format? How big is a typical book, in bytes. (Free downloads first choicee, of course!<G>)
Tom
audible.com often offers 3 free downloads to first-time customers in the hopes of getting you hooked.
Hmmm..."Pokey" likes dirty books...perhaps you should explain your trail name. :-?
Or perhaps not. :rolleyes:
Suspected as much. I always knew she was too good to be true...!:eek:
Pokey2006
03-31-2007, 06:45
HA HA!
I did get picked on -- A LOT -- for my choice of reading material. I'm used to it. I can take it.
The men in the dirty books are the same way, too good to be true. Alas, reality never quite lives up to expectations. :(
HA HA!
I did get picked on -- A LOT -- for my choice of reading material. I'm used to it. I can take it.
The men in the dirty books are the same way, too good to be true. Alas, reality never quite lives up to expectations. :(
Whatever. Let them read their hippie trash--you've got Kenton Mcmanlyknight.
So in the end I actually decided on "The Cloudspotter's Guide." It's pretty awesome. =)
BlackCloud
04-06-2007, 08:17
Lonesome dove. Nothing like a good cattle drive story.
I thought it was:
"Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people then my guns."
mountain squid
04-06-2007, 09:00
Whatever you decide to read, I suggest you only bring one book at a time (at least in the beginning). At the beginning, you will likely be:
a) too busy meeting new friends and talking gear or
b) too tired to read
Besides which, having more than one book might be more weight/bulk than you wish to carry...
PS--I reread the Lord of the Rings series, which is always a good choice for someone on a journey.
Great series...Someone started off with the entire trilogy (paperback) and, needless to say, 2 of the 3 are at the Walasi-Yi...
See you on the trail,
mt squid
mweinstone
04-06-2007, 09:12
i read the brow furrows of other hikers to determine there state of affairs. i look into their eternal soul to see if they have one. i read into their every word till i have a picture of there past and present. i read . not books. people. just finnished a great one named "my boss, man what a peice of work."
Uncle Silly
04-06-2007, 21:19
What about Audio Books?
Has any one found a source for books recorded in mp3 format? How big is a typical book, in bytes. (Free downloads first choicee, of course!<G>)
There are lots of choices.
* Buy (or borrow) Audiobooks on CD and convert them to MP3. You don't need them to be high quality, like music, so a lot of audiobook fits in a small space. Set your ripper (iTunes, Windows Media, whatever) to rip them to 56 or 64 kbps or less.
* Podiobooks.com offers free audiobooks -- mostly recent stuff. I've picked up two Scott Sigler novels (sci-fi) from them recently, both weighing in around 600mb.
* LibriVox.org offers free audiobooks -- older works read from Project Gutenberg texts, all Public Domain (ie completely out of copywrite). Darwin's Origin of Species, Sherlock Holmes, some Mark Twain, similar stuff. LibriVox also has links to other literary podcasts and audiolit sites.
* Several Sci-Fi magazines offer free podcasts of (some of) the short stories they publish.
--silly
So far I've read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, The Turn of the Screw, some crappy book about the history of snipers, and currently I am reading Andromeda Strain by Micheal Crighton.
flyingduckmonster
04-12-2007, 15:08
Man, I love these forums. I was just thinking to myself "I wonder if there's a way of trading books up and down the trail. Hm. I'll go look at WhiteBlaze." And BAM! I found this thread!
(I was thinking of reading Godel, Escher, Bach. It would take me the whole trip, probably, and my hike is going to be the only time I have the attention span to really do it justice, I suspect. Unfortunately, the book is stupid heavy, so I don't know.)
I think I like the leave-a-paperback-take-a-paperback method better, anyway.
:banana
jambalaya
04-12-2007, 15:21
Flyingduckmonster, I love your ambition. I've considered possibly thinking of maybe picking that book up off the shelf in my mom's library but I'm just not ready for that kind of heavy lifting from the shelf to the armchair, let alone GA to ME. Take-a-book, Leave-a-book on the AT is awesome. I liked to write little notes in mine, and then sometimes you'd run into the person whose book you were reading. So fun.