Customer Reviews

The Best of Outside: The First 20 Years

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Years and years ago an office-mate brought in a copy Outside magazine with an article on "Ferret-legging," and read to all of us. By the end of it we were dying with laughter. I made a xerox, which I saved for years, until I finally made the mistake of loaning to a friend (ex, now, obviously) WHO DID NOT RETURN IT.
Now this compendium of Outside's comes out, and blessed Mary mother of God, it includes the ferret-legging piece.
You must buy this, flip to "King of the ferret-leggers," and read the piece. You'll thank me, honest you will.
And I'm told there're some other stories in here as well. Think of them as gravy.

This book posits that a well-written account of an adventure can be just as much fun as the actual, original experience, and the book's contributors, all with sterling credentials (published books, New Yorker work, etc.), do not disappoint. The writing quality is such that I found myself avidly reading through stories about pastimes I don't enjoy and hardly consider -- hunting, flyfishing, etc. -- and enjoying them nonetheless, drawn in by the enticing quality of the writing. Some of the pure adventure works may not be great literature, but, then, not everything enjoyable in life is.

Not just ordinary stories about the outdoors. There are stories on hunting, fly fishing, female bull-fighters, surfing in Hawaii, sailing, training for the Hawaii Ironman, climbing and my two favorites "ferret-legging" and "bag-snagging." You will find yourself reading about subjects you would not ordinarily choose to read but enjoy such stories anyway. If you have any interest in the outdoors you should read this book. There are about 40-50 stories by different authors on varied activities. Incls. the articles that became Into Thin Air (very good) and The Perfect Storm (not so good).

Thanks to Outside magazine, which has been systematically cultivating a stable of fine writers for years now, we have a collection of what I'll call the "nouveau adventure" genre. Yes, there are traditional, edge-of-your-seat adventure stories by familiar names like Jon Krakauer, Sebastian Junger and Dave Roberts, but to me the real pleasure of reading this book is derived from pieces like Ian Frazier's "Keeping America's Trees Safe from Small-Curd Bubble Wrap," and Randy Wayne White's "Why Do We Fish?" Their topics are just a bit off the wall, poke gentle fun at the human condition, and still manage to offer some real insight into subjects that most of us would never have thought of.

I have also savored the several pieces in the anthology that touch a deeper chord. "The High Cost of Being David Bower," a sensitive portrait of a man literally driven by the urgency of his dream, and "The Blackfoot Years," dealing with the importance of a river to the lives of a family that has had to cope with tragedy, are two favorites.

Here you will find adventure of all kinds, insightful social commentary, high risk moments, and just enough oddball humor to keep you entertained for hours. Like other readers, I find myself returning to this collection just for the fun and pleasure of rereading my favorites. Many thanks to Outside for having the vision and sense to give these authors a home in print.

I must have re-read this book for the twentieth time by now. And I already have this whole stack of Outside magazines on the shelf! Every time I read this book I would discover something interesting and new between the lines and in the stories -- whether it's emotional, descriptive or implied. I feel terrified when I read Krakauer's take on the Everest accident; inspired by the story on David Brower and his environmental stand; and I laughed myself silly with The King of the Ferret Leggers. In short, this book take me through the whole gamut of emotions. It's a great compilation and an even greater buy.

This book contains the kind of excellent writing Outside magazine USED to be known for! As it turned out, Outside's first 20 years were it's best 20 years. All the great writers are here: Tim Cahill, Edward Abbey, David Quammen, and others. Sadly, Outside magazine is now a mediocre ghost of what it used to be. It's now just a gritty boys' magazine where young, male extreme sports afficionados can get their pictures taken and have bragging rights, and where manufacturers of macho, envrionment-destroying machines can advertise; and the only time women are featured now is when they are either nude or barely dressed. Sad.

Briefly: This is an absolutely amazing collection of travel writing, perhaps the paragon collection of the genre. Honestly, there are no duds here (and there are a lot of essays here), with stellar writing and captivating stories across the board. A fantastic travel companion that, like one reviewer said, is a bear to read: though it's "only" 400-some pages, they use a tiny font and almost zero margins, so you get an incredible amount of reading, and it's all superb. I've read nothing better in the genre.

I concur with all of the previous glowing reviews. I have a beef with the publisher; the text is too small. I guess the font to be an 8.