Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An adventure book for regular people,
By A Customer
This review is from: Trail Ways, Path Wise: An Appalachian Trail Through-Hike (Paperback)
By the time I finished John Krakauer's book on the ill-fated Mt.Everest expedition, I had been cured of any desire to ever climb a mountain that required supplementary oxygen or, for that matter, any clothing heavier than my Land's End Squall Jacket. A friend who read Into the Air about the same time I did summed up my feeling on that sort of adventure when he said "The idea of climbing Everest used to be one of those things I'd periodically think about doing if I ever got the chance. Now I can think of about 80 or 90 things, including flipping an Indy car at 200 MPH, that I might rather choose to do." Krakauer's book was certainly a good read, but by the third chapter, one looks up from the page, takes in the warm comfort of one's study or living room, and thinks: "These people are insane." Happily, John Illig has written an engaging narrative about hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, an adventure that, given a 4 or 5 month sabbatical, might strike most of us as a demanding yet accessible accomplishment. Indeed, Illig's conversational writing style suggests to the reader "Hey-- I did this and I'm just like any other vegan college athletics coach. Why don't you saddle up and try it yourself?" It's this inclusive attitude that makes one wonder, nestled on the couch before the fire, if one's boss might actually consider granting an unpaid leave for the summer. Of course, the absence of any a character's freezing to death or plummeting screaming into any icy chasm makes hiking the AT all the more appealing. Illig's little homilies on topics like long-distance relationships, vegetarianism, being a coach, and talking on the phone with one's parents occur organically, as thoughts and revelations do during periods of solitude. His obsession with piece of abdominal execise equipment, which he holds on to way beyond his realization that he'll never use it, reveals an amused self-deprecation less contrived than what one usually encounters in travel books. Most importantly, Illig shows us what it's like to do something alone. Sure, his parents have packages waiting for him at post offices along the way and for long stretches he hikes in the company of others. But in Trail Ways, Path Wise, Illig suggests we might all be well advised to spend some time-- any time-- out in the world by ourselves.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thanks for letting me tag along.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Trail Ways, Path Wise: An Appalachian Trail Through-Hike (Paperback)
Neither a technical how to, nor a deep, introspective philosophical exercise, as are most books of this genre, Trail Ways Path Wise is a refreshing, "Hey, come along and try this with me" story. If you want to know what it's REALLY like to through-hike the A.T., this is THE book you must read. It's too bad the trail isn't another thousand miles longer so that our walk, and the book, might be longer too. Thanks for letting me walk along with you John.
13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
2000 Mile Ego Trip!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Trail Ways, Path Wise: An Appalachian Trail Through-Hike (Paperback)
Follow our holier-than-thou hiker hero through the trail as he looks down his nose at Christians, carnivores, tourists, hunters, Southerners, European settlers (typical PC liberal dogma) and, interestingly, fellow thru-hikers. But particularly disdainful to this ego-maniac are the lazy "weekend warriors." Hint - that's you and me - the 4 MILLION plus users that ruin it for the hundreds of thru-studs. Day hikers are good for two things: 1. bumming food and rides from and 2. asking stupid questions. And of course, our hero has to be the fastest thing on the trail! We're constantly bombarded with how strong he feels as he pours on the mileage and blows past fellow hikers (incredibly, only one other character reaches Katahdin before him, and that is of course because he is laid up in the hospital for a week.) The arbitrary lines he draws that prove that he does the trail correctly, while others do it wrong are incredible. It's OK for him to cut a corner in a town, but not for a fellow hiker to take a "blue blaze" shortcut around a peak, even if the view is better! Heck, Mr. Illig, you're all walking from Georgia to Maine -- get over it! I did have some favorite parts, though. The book opens with a self effacing hiker who hikes in sneakers and carries ridiculous provisions (canned tomatoes, snowshoes,an abdominizer, etc.) He humbly pokes fun at himself, and if he could have carried this character through the adventure, the book would have been a fine read. Unfortunately, the Mr. Hyde ego-man emerges too soon. One curious section is on pg. 155, where the author mentions his future in-laws, and makes them sound like complete morons. The reader (who's fed up by now) can only smile at the real life fun around the next family Thanksgiving tofu-turkey. But my favorite part is on pg 129, where he leaves a small Pennsylvania town and "Some kids in a car drove by and yelled 'Asshole!' " My only thought was "how did they know?"
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
