A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
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A Walk in the Woods
Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

Author: Bill Bryson

Narrator: Bill Bryson

Abridged: 5 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/05/2000

Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The classic chronicle of a “terribly misguided and terribly funny” (The Washington Post) hike of the Appalachian Trail, from the author of A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Body
 
“The best way of escaping into nature.”—The New York Times 
 
Back in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes—and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings. 
 
For a start there’s the gloriously out-of-shape Stephen Katz, a buddy from Iowa along for the walk. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson’s acute eye is a wise witness to this beautiful but fragile trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America’s last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods is a modern classic of travel literature.
 
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

About The Author

Bill Bryson's bestselling books include A Walk in the Woods, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and A Short History of Nearly Everything (which won the Aventis Prize in Britain and the Descartes Prize, the European Union's highest literary award). He was chancellor of Durham University, England's third oldest university, from 2005 to 2011, and is an honorary fellow of Britain's Royal Society.

Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Sally on 2024-04-09 06:02:11

A Walk in the Woods is truly a must read. I've read the book and I've listened to the unabridged audio but the version read by Ron McLarty. No one does the audio better than McLarty, seriously! The story - Bill and his longtime friend, Katz, make plans to walk the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine and as all plans go, well, they go wrong but in a very funny way. You will find yourself laughing out loud as you listen to the story, it's that good.

Goodreads review by Jason on January 29, 2015

I am what some might call a pussy hiker. I do genuinely enjoy a leisurely stroll in the “mountains” of Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. I like the pretty views. I always bring my conveniently-sized L.L. Bean backpack ($39.95 from the Kittery Outlets) so I have a place for my camera and cell......more

Goodreads review by Anne on August 13, 2023

I kind of surprised I liked this book at all, because: a) I read pathetically little non-fiction b) I've never read a travelogue AND c) I'm only a fan of the Great Outdoors as long as I'm safely Indoors. So, color me shocked that I not only finished this, but giggled my way through quite a bit of it!......more

Goodreads review by J.L. on May 01, 2016

I wanted to like Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. Not sure what I was expecting from this—perhaps more about hiking on the actual AT and the reasons Bryson made this trek—but I was mostly disappointed. It read like a series of travel brochures: here’......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on February 08, 2024

OMG! This is the first book I have read by Bill Bryson and I LOVED it! I listened to it on audiobook and kept laughing out loud---it is hilarious! After living abroad for 20 years, Bryson moved to New Hampshire and lived near the Appalachian Trail. The Trail is "an invitation to amble." Bryson decid......more

Quotes

“Bryson is . . . great company right from the start—a lumbering, droll, neatnik intellectual who comes off as equal parts Garrison Keillor, Michael Kinsley, and . . . Dave Barry...[Readers] may find themselves turning the pages with increasing amusement and anticipation as they discover that they're in the hands of a satirist of the first rank who writes (and walks) with Chaucerian brio.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“A terribly misguided and terribly funny tale of adventure...choke-on-your-coffee funny.”
—The Washington Post Book World

“A Walk in the Woods is an almost perfect travel book.”
—The Boston Globe

“The Appalachian Trail...consists of some five million steps, and Bryson manages to coax a laugh, and often an unexpectedly startling insight, out of every one he traverses...It is hard not to grin idiotically through all 304 pages...sheer comic entertainment.”
—Kirkus Reviews

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