Rating: 
Summary: Makes you want to take a hike!
Review: Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is a very comical and at the same time very educational book. This author interweaves funny characters along with the geographical history of the Appalachian Trail. You learn about the various Eastern Seaboard Mountains, the trees that make them up, the different wild and extinct animals and how difficult these mountains can be to hike.We learn that if we do not start caring for these trails that we will lose them!
Rating: 
Summary: Almost drove off the road laughing
Review: My wife and I listened to several books on tape when we moved drove across the country a few summers ago. This was by far the best. Bryson weaves a very funny and informative tale of his adventure in attempting to walk the App. Trail with his old friend Katz. Along the way, they meet some very interesting characters and realize they bit off more than they can chew. We laughed so hard. Hearing Bryson read it was part of the enjoyment - his accent adds so much. We learned a lot of the AT and fell in love with rich characters like Katz. When we want a good laugh, we just think of the imagine of Katz tossing water bottles out to lighten his load but saving all his Little Debbie's.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Entertaining
Review: I read for pleasure and entertainment and this book really fits the bill. It had me laughing out loud right from the beginning. I cannot believe others have given it such low ratings. It WAS a "Runaway New York Times Bestseller" for good reason!!! Bill Bryson is obviously intelligent, an excellent writer, and reasearches his topics well. This book is merely his story, his perceptions, and his experiences hiking the AT ... and in my opinion any writer has the right to express himself any which way he chooses. Bill Bryson does it with wit and humor unexcelled. I highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: Disregard The Pretentious Banter of Tree Huggers!!!
Review: Lordy, nothing makes me more upset than people who bash a book solely because it does not agree with their worldview. Last I checked this was still America. You know, the place where you can speak your own opinion without fear of a public stoning? A Walk in the Woods is pee-on-yourself funny. The kind of book that turns you into the "weirdo on the bus" in other commuter's dinnertime stories b/c you spent the whole 45 minutes snorting and half-hyperventilating as you tried to suppress your laughter.I'm not convinced that AT neophytes would read this book and automatically think, "oh wow, this is obviously the way that it's done. I shall copy that experience EXACTLY!" That would be impossible. Not everyone who looks at a Rorschach inkblot sees a butterfly. This book details BILL BRYSON'S experience. End of story. And yes, he plainly states at the beginning that the expedition might be a great subject for his next novel. HE'S A WRITER PEOPLE! Sheesh. Bill Bryson has made me laugh harder over the years than nearly any other author out there, and these days, no matter how he makes that happen, I thank him for it.
Rating:
Summary: Very Funny, Entertaining!
Review: Having never read travel writing in my life, I did not know what to expect. I selected this title for my book club to read and I kept my fingers crossed that I hadn't picked a bomb that my clubmates would dread finishing. Quite the contrary! We met last night to discuss "A Walk in the Woods". Everybody loved it! I lead the discussion and we found ourselves laughing hysterically over Bryson's many little anicdotes about life on the trail. His colorful but strange hiking partner, Katz, was a favorite in my group. We never thought that this overweight, non-ambitious, middle aged man would make it past the first day, but he did. Although, my group concluded that he must not have had anything else to do in his life and this way he got free food from Bryson and rent was free on the trail. This book is filled with funny stories and commentary. There are some historical sections on the AT and the Eastern Seaboard. Bryson did his fare share of research and it shows in his writing. The book just makes me want to go to the AT and do some hiking. It sounds beautiful! This is a must read and I give it 4 stars...
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed messages
Review: Bryson tries to come across as environmentally conscious, but he finds humor and satisfaction is smashing mice with a metal cup. By the end, I really didn't like him, even though I agreed with some of his views. His humor is that Stephen King style--male, adolescent, and firmly based on denigrating everything within sight. He seems to try to elevate himself by tearing everything else down. He does a good job with the background "lore" he provides, though. When he doesn't succumb to the temptation to be cute, he's a good observer.
Rating:
Summary: Hiking for the Common Man
Review: I have read this book, and most of the reviews associated with it. Bryson does a very good job of relating his experiences while hiking portions of the Appalachian Trail. From the start, I was laughing out loud and imagining myself there along for the hike. Bill Bryson, and his hiking partner Stephen Katz are more like the average office worker that gets a crazy idea to go do something crazy! They set off to make a 2200 mile hike when they know virtually nothing about it. Bill uses a lot of dry humor that makes the book very easy and enjoyable reading. It is not a book to learn the correct ways of hiking, but it certainly relates to those of us that might try to do something just because we think we want to. I highly recommend reading the book, if for nothing more than the humor. As for the negative reviews that I have read, most of them deal with Bryson's lack of instructional details, or the descriptions of the southern mountain people. I personally did not buy the book for it to read like stereo instructions. I did not expect it to tell me how to hike the trail. As for the descriptions of the mountain folks of Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, I grew up in these GA and I can assure you that there are quite a few "Deliverance" type left in the mountains. Probably the only fault in his descriptions, is that this should be said of all of the mountain areas along the trail. The areas are poverty regions and there are quite a few people starving there. But that is a book all to its own! Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A Walk In the Woods
Review: I feel compelled to write a GOOD review of this book after reading some of the negative ones listed here. Nowhere on or in this book does it claim to be a "how-to" or the definitive work on the AT--what it does claim is to recount one man's experiences with the Trail and the people he meets and to be as one reviewer put it: 'choke on your coffee funny' and I couldn't agree more. I read a lot and very rarely do I laugh out loud at a book and I did with A Walk in the Woods-A LOT. I am not a serious hiker, don't claim to be--though I have in fact read an issue or two of Outside Magazine--but I thoroughly enjoyed Bill Bryson's account of HIS adventures.
Rating: 
Summary: Preachy and supercilious
Review: Bill Bryson rarely has anything positive to say, whether he is pontificating on the Forest Service's weaknesses, or making rude and disparaging judgments about every small town "fortunate" enough to host him as a visitor. (Except for precious Hanover, NH) He is at best condescending, at worst an elitist snob.
He didn't have that much to teach about the woods, beyond his obsession with bears and government mismanagement, and I found his pages of spouting to be so slanted and subjective that I didn't even trust his factual writing.
Then, to cap it off, after dabbling in parts of the AT, he and his buddy declare at the end: "I don't care what anyone says, we have hiked the Appalachian Trail." Pshaa! Tell that to someone who has truly done the trail, with respect, from beginning to end~ the nerve.
I read this book cover to cover, sometimes enjoying the humor, but found Bryson's tone and attitude so irritating that even the humor was like nasty and relentless teasing... who, in good conscience, can laugh at that?
Rating:
Summary: Not for hikers
Review: I felt obligated to write a negative review when I saw that this book still has a four star average. While entertaining enough to finish, it was disapointing. If you have ever read an issue of Outside or Backpacker magazine, let alone Edward Abbey, you will probably be offended by many aspects of this book. I would recommend reading all the other reviews sorted from lowest rating first before paying money for it.
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