Customer Reviews

DEAD MEN HIKE NO TRAILS

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Do not begin this book lightly, for once you have begun you are in for the long haul, the whole enchilada. You will want to finish this book just as much as Rick McKinney wanted to finish his hike and when it's over you will be looking around for more, more trails to follow with this dude. It is the height of irony that one who suffers so much is such a light, such a kick to be around. Such is the dance near the abyss, a dangerous place to tread but damn, what a view!

Well-traveled wordsmith Rick McKinney leaves the highway and takes a long hike, writing as he goes, uplinking chapters to his editors, then emerges from the mountains with this fine explorama into the depths of emotion and the sparks that fire, and backfire, within the human mind. Musings run long on life, both comedic and tragic, pathetic and magic. This writer's pen seems at once dipped in the same ink as Thompson, Kerouac, Tom Robbins and Bukowski, with refinements you encounter in the writings of Paul Theroux.
I'm only part way through the reading of Dead Men. I feel so pulled into to the swimmery of McKinney's wonderful blend of the observational and the direct experiencial of life being lived, a life that has seen other lives come to crashing halts voluntarily, extended family of his who made an exit earlier than scheduled. The writer offers some understanding into why people choose to leave this life on there own terms. And the concept of hiking as therapy and prevention begs further exploration by those whose theories most of us subcribe.
McKinney articulates well on uncomfortable subjects, then gives the reader relief with side-bars of humor and the erotic. I look forward to finishing this book and reading his next book. It's encouraging to see that someone is still burning the midnight oil on the lamp that lights the paper & pen of the Gonzo journal.
-Reviewer: Hunter(not Thompson)

This is probably the most painfully honest writing you'll ever read. McKinney isn't a writer that crafts phrases intentionally designed to make you feel or think one way or another. He simply creates a virtual verbal connection between his seriously warped mind (and I mean that in a good way) and his keyboard. You don't just take a trip with him along the Appalachian Trail, you take a trip through the heights and depths of his soul. It's as hard to describe the content of the book as it is to categorize it. Equal parts travel journal, private diary and whimsical commentary, this book will thrill you on one page, annoy you on another, amuse you and anger you on still others. Put simply, reading this book is like traveling with McKinney on his 2,000-mile hike: he'll get on your nerves from time to time, but you'll have an unforgettable experience.

I was given this book by a friend as a birthday gift this past July since she knew I was a big hiker. When I first started to read the book, it brought back a lot of hard memories about my life and I actually stopped reading it for a while. When I went on vacation, I took the book with me and completed it. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down until it was finished. It was inspiring to see how one person took so much pain in his life and achieved a very difficult task and in the end became a more complete person. The book gave you a true sense of what it is like to hike the AT trail and the challenges it imposes. It gave you an understanding of the hike's day-to-day adventures / activities, the places that Rick considered eventful, and the distance aspect of the journey. The specific details about himself, his family, old friends, new friends, and relationships were exceptionally written.

I would recommend this book to anyone especially those people that enjoy the outdoors and hiking. At the end, you may find yourself buying AT books and figuring out how you can complete it.

Great job Rick!!!!

A thoroughly enjoyable read. McKinney's words are poetic, cynical at times, but they're delivered with warm heartfelt sincerity. "Dead Men Hike No Trails" is well paced, engaging, inspiring, emotionally affecting, and full of humor. With no exaggeration, I was laughing out loud sometime during almost every chapter. McKinney makes it clear that this is only his interpretation of events on a grueling, and joy-filled hike from Georgia to Maine. However, whether you enjoy real life road trips, or epic fantasy journeys, you will love this book.

This book is an amazing first hand account of a life-changing, 2,000 mile American pilgrimage. Puts you on the Appalachian Trail with the author on a monumental journey of the foot and of the mind.

I haven't been so inspired to leave the comforts of home and see/experience/hike the world over since i read "on the road" 15 year ago. Finally, a modern day Kerouac.

I am finally writing a review for a book that I've read at least 3 times since I've gotten it this past winter.

I love books, I love literature, I love prose that makes your stomache ache and your throat close. This book is a fantastically written piece of literature.

McKinney is both a wonderful writer and traveler. This book works on a few levels--as a long, rambling poem, as a travel book, as a biography...this book means so many things to me I could probably go on and on.

This book is delibrately written in a first-person, present, you-are-with-the-author-right-there-in-his head type of way. I think that's why this work is so affecting. From the sad start of the book when he chooses to leave for the AT, being alienated from society and full of greif, surviving a green-sky lightening storm, to following the wrong woman just because he is COMPELLED, getting lost in the White Mountains in the middle of the night, climbing into the clouds and out the darkness, you are with the author so completely that you forget where YOU are. McKinney writes with an intensity that makes you feel every change of mood, every turn in the forest, everything.

Some books you read, you can almost feel the author struggling to pull the words out of his head, when they are then analyzed, rewritten, anguished over, etc. This words in this book simply flow on and on, as if this story (rocky as it is) came tumbling out of the writer.

This is a book that, I think, most people will identify with. Who isn't at times, both happy & wistful & elated & proud & frustruated & alienated & sweet & upset & powerful all at the same time? Or over time? Luckily McKinney has an articulate, plaintive voice that takes the reader up and through all of these.

Get this book.

This book is like a trip down memory lane. In fact, it is. As having survived the same season on the AT as McKinney, this book brings back the memories. It's an accurate depiction of the true trail experience, unlike other books that fall short (1800 miles short!) Buy this book for yourself, or give it away as an Arbor Day gift. Either way, get this book.

While Bryson's book on AT is funny, McKinney's book is more honest, gives one a much better sense of the experience, and has a way-better ending. Having distance hiked a lot--including stretches of the AT--and read a lot about the subject, no book I've found better shares the experience, what it is like, day in and day out, to take on such a journey. One gets a wonderful view into the community that forms along such a hike, as well as both the stunning beauty and incredible monotony that pervades such a trip. As a bonus, along the way, McKinney also shares with the readers the trials of struggling with depression--his motivator for getting on the trail.

It's worth the noting, the book stems from a blog he kept while on the trail and, like a lot of blogs, can be a bit "self-involved." Mr. McKinney is no doubt a smart, funny, complex person in real life--and, like people like that in real life, his writing might take a few pages to warm up too. Stick with the book, as he'll take you on an armchair journey of the AT like no other author has that I know of....

A mezmerizing tale of a man simultaneously running from, while facing, the things that torment him most. McKinney shares his deepest, most intimate thoughts and feelings in a way that all too many of us can relate to. His walk on the Appalation Trail sets a fine parrellell to our own lives. Bravo Rick! Walk on my brother.