A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire, I happened upon a path that vanished into a wood on the edge of town.

So begins Bill Bryson's hilarious book A Walk in the Woods. Following his return to America after twenty years in Britain, Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. The AT, as it's affectionately known to thousands of hikers, 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 test his own powers of ineptitude, and 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 who accompanies the similarly unfit Bryson on the trail. Once Bryson and Katz settle into their stride, it's not long before they come across the fabulously annoying Mary Ellen, whose disappearance ruins a perfectly good slice of pie, a gang of Ralph Lauren-attired yuppies from whom Katz appropriates a key piece of equipment, and a security guard in Pennsylvania who, for no ascertainable reason, impounds Bryson's car. Mile by arduous mile these latter-day pioneers walk America, along the way surviving the threat of bear attacks, the loss of key provisions, and everything else this awe-inspiring country can throw at them.

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 fragile and beautiful 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, a lament, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods is destined to become a modern classic of travel literature.

BILL BRYSON is one of the best-selling and best-loved authors writing in English today. His books include A Walk in the Woods, Notes from a Small Island, In a Sunburned Country, Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors, and a memoir of childhood, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. His exploration of scientific knowledge, A Short History of Nearly Everything, earned him the 2004 Aventis Prize. Bryson lives in Britain with his wife and children. The Royal Society, the national academy of science of the UK and the Commonwealth, is at the cutting edge of scientific progress. It supports many leading young scientists, engineers and technologists, influences science policy, debates scientific issues with the public, and much more. It is an independent, charitable body which derives its authority from its over 1,400 Fellows and Foreign Members: distinguished the eminent scientists, engineers and technologists from the United Kingdom, other Commonwealth countries and the Republic of Ireland.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780767902519
ISBN 10	0767902513
Title	A Walk in the Woods
Author	Bill Bryson
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group
Year published	1998-05-04
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable