For those of you who haven't heard of Bill Bryson, you are missing out on one of the great authors of our time. I just finished my second Bryson book, which was "A Walk In The Woods"...the first was "A Short History of Nearly Everything", which I need to read again because it was so good.
"Woods" is about Bryson and an old buddy, Stephen Katz, hiking the Appalachian Trail. It is told extremely well with timely details, relevant (and sometimes astounding) history, and, of course, humor. I gravitated towards this book because nature intrigues me to a significant degree, and when I saw Bryson was the author, I was in. I also really liked the book because I am not an expert hiker, heck, not even an intermediate hiker, but someday hope to be, and Bryson is cut from the same cloth, spending the first small section of the book writing about hiking gears and the different types of hikers.
The history of the trail was excellent, bouncing back 100s of years at some times, and only a few years at others. And, because the trail is so darn long, it has multiple personalities (a la Sybil), especially at the end of the book with the treks in Pennsylvania and Maine. At times it is frustrating to read about the degradation of the trail because of man (and government). The wildlife is sparce because of hunting and the foliage is suffering because of man's influence. I guess some of this inevitable to a degree, but to hear Bryson tell it, it makes you want to be a better citizen of Planet Earth.
For anyone that's visited a national or state park and loved the experience, this is an excellent read.
