Rating: 
Summary: Better than fiction
Review: Typically, I read a lot of fiction. I'm an escapist, I guess. I read to get away from the world we are all here to occcupy, and often I find that the best escape is into a fictonal land where nothing is as it seems, or even plausable.I took a chance on this book on a friends recomendation, and I was not dissapointed. Knowing my penchant for escapism, he steered me directly to this often hilarious account of a middle age writer and his drunk hippy college buddy hiking the appalchian trail. Two more mismached fellows I could not imagine. This book details a hysterical tale of survivial that leaves you half wanting to call up that old college friend that you haven't seen in 10 years and pack your bags and hit the trail, and half glad to continue to lead your sedintary life writing book reviews on some web site. The other great positive that this book offers is it's interesting history lessons. I don't think I've learned as much about american history since 10th grade social studies! Bryson has a little Charles Kuralt going on (well, maybe without the love affairs!) as he leaves the trail and gives frank, raucous descriptions of the little towns he finds food and shelter in along the way. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a good sense of humor, a free weekend (it's a quick read) and an escapist personality.
Rating: 
Summary: More Like Rediscovering A Really Bad Idea
Review: Bill Bryson did not hike the AT. He hiked parts of the AT. He didn't rediscover America. He saw 800 miles of woods. His insights were few and far between. Instead, readers are "treated" to his particularly irritating smugness diguised as humor. His incessant poking of fun at others, usually more interesting and determined than he, wears thin before he wimps out in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The writing is fine in this "adventure" book, it's the tone and substance that lacks. By the time he and Katz quit (and this doesn't give anything away) early in the hike, I was ready for them to fall to their deaths anyway. I read the rest of the book trying to figure out when humility might come to light, but it never did. He got whipped by the AT and never had the sack to admit it. For anyone interested in actually learning about the AT, this book is a farce. For those more interested in reading than doing, there may be some sense of amusement. Like black flies and mosquitoes, this book is annoying, annoying, annoying.
Rating: 
Summary: Half a Masterpiece
Review: Such a great start to the book. It read real well up to the point where Bryson got on his soapbox and couldn't step down. The journeys he and Katz took in the first half of the book where great. Then Bryson decided to editorialize as he stumbled throught the rest of the AT. If he would have continued the format and dialogue of the first half of the book, this clearly would be a classic hiking read. Instead, he interjected his agenda on all things environmental and got off the path (pun intended)! Not that I don't enjoy getting background info on the changing topography of New Hampshire or now extinct bird species, but enough with the generalizations! I enjoyed his wit and shared multiple laughs with him until he lost his way. I still would recommend reading it, even though it slows down considerably in the second half.
Rating: 
Summary: Informative and Very Entertaining
Review: Bryson has written an immensely enjoyable book, both informative and entertaining as a travel memoir. Bryson, an American who recently returned to New England after spending about 20 years abroad in England, decided to tackle the 2100 mile Appalachian Trail, from it's southernmost beginning in Georgia to the wild woods of Maine. This was clearly no casual walk in the park. Bryson didn't want to walk the Trail alone, but without any local traveling companions he was forced to send a "mass mailing" to numerous old friends and acquaintances to try and rustle up a volunteer. Into the picture walks Stephen Katz, an overweight, recovering alcoholic who shows up with a suitcase full of candy bars. In the long history of the Trail, there may not have been a duo as ill-equipped to begin their trek as Bryson and Katz. However, they do set off, and their numerous adventures were extremely enjoyable, even for a reader like myself who does not consider himself an outdoors enthusiast. Numerous passages in the book, from Katz's comic arrival in Atlanta to begin the voyage to the efforts of both men to shake off an unwanted "hanger-on" on the trail, were downright hilarious. And to top it all off, Bryson skillfully weaves in a considerable amount of history of the Trail and the region, the effects of logging and over-development on America's natural forests, etc. I knew nothing about the great resorts built in the mountains near the trail before tourists stopped coming in favor of Atlantic City, Disney World, etc. The book has an occasional lapse, and Bryson's offbeat and self-deprecating style can get old at times. You sometimes wonder what motivated him to leave his family and undertake this ordeal for such a long period of time. A few photographs of the Trail might have helped too, although I can appreciate the weight limitations of Bryson and Katz, since they apparently did not have any spare room in the backpack for cameras. All in all this is an enjoyable, light read that'll also teach you a thing or two about an important region of the country.
Rating:
Summary: Superb!
Review: I lived in London for six months and loved NOTES FROM A SMALL PLANET. I was warned that A WALK IN THE WOODS was not nearly as good. Well it is not as funny--but I think it is a much better book. Indeed I rate A WALK IN THE WOODS a classic. I was prepared to dislike it but was enthralled. I am an avid backpacker and hiker and nutty outdoors type. I think that Bryson's book is probably the best hiking/outdoors/nature book that I have read, and I've read dozens of them. I think that he is funnier and deeper than Farley Mowat. Bryson is a master of ideas and a master of English prose (my one tiny complaint is that he overuses the words "arresting" and "arrestingly" when he cannot think of another term--as in "we faced an arrestingly steep cliff"). This book is a story of people, America, and nature as we confront it today. The trail really only plays a minor role. Those who complain that he did not hike the entire trail are off-base. Bryson is a writer, genius, observer, philosopher, humorist, not a hiker. If you want a hiking guide, read the official guide books. If you want insight, entertainment, depth, wit, and brilliance, read Bryson.
Rating:
Summary: If you get dragged on hikes by spouses, read this book!
Review: My husband is an avid hiker. I merely follow along, often unwillingly. Don't get me wrong, I love the outdoors, but when he insists on dragging a deaf woman with no sense of balance on a night hike to a particular spot, which turns out to be a swamp...well,I understand how Bill Bryson felt in many circumstances. This was an absolutely hilarious read. I commiserated with him deeply even though he let himself in for it (don't we all at some point?). I've been on the Appalachian Trail myself and recognize some of the spots he talks about. I also recognize the people you meet, and how often people are very nice and patient when outdoors. This is an extremely good summer read. Take it with you the next time your spouse drags you into an uncomfortable situation! Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh
Rating:
Summary: A fun story about a difficult trip
Review: For those of us who have always wanted to hike the Appalachian trail, but who just haven't seemed to get around to it, Bill Bryson offers the next best thing, a detailed and amusing rendition of his own journey. The great strength of this book is Bryson himself--far from being a smooth, skilled outdoorsman, he seems as lost, as frustrated, and as tired as we ourselves would be in his situation. This book not only tells you what it's like to hike the Appalachian trail, but it provides some insight into the human response to adversity.
Rating:
Summary: Not just another travelogue
Review: So many people have made much of the fact that Bryson did not hike the entire trail. I think it is probably a better book for that reason. I have read a couple of other books about the AT, and they are basically, "We started here, we hiked north, north, north, stopped at shelter, shelter, shelter, and we arrived here." Bryson's book is so much more. He goes into the selection of gear, the history and ineptitude of the park service, the tragedy of Centralia. He compares hiking in Europe with hiking the AT. He puts the trail into the larger picture, describing the ecology and the role of the government in maintaining the trail. And Bryson is such a natural writer-no straining after the correct word. It all just rolls off his pen, along with generous dollops of humor. Every page was an education, an entertainment, and a joy. This is one of my all-time favorite books!
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, Intelligent, Entertaining as Hell
Review: I read this book mostly on the bus to and from work. People would stare at me, perhaps assuming I lacked some marbles, as I cracked up in hysterics. In this book, Mr. Bryson has a way of delivering his stories with such humor and wit that I couldn't wait to pick up the book each time. He develops the characters through causual conversation. He has done a huge amount of historical research on virtually every place he describes. This adds a lot of intelligence to the book. Sometimes when I read travel writing I feel as if the writer gets caught up in describing a place and the "feeling" that nature gives off. This is not what I sensed while reading this book. Bryson gives a wonderful sense of place but always brings the reader back to the story. This kept me entertained the whole way through.
Rating: 
Summary: I Can't Believe He Didn't Hike the Whole Thing!
Review: I'm pretty sure that Bill Bryson is a competent writer. I bought this book after reading an excerpt from early chapters in a magazine. The early chapters were pretty funny, but that's about as far as it goes. Bryson certainly knows what to hide from a potential reader (the fact that he hiked only a tiny portion of the Appalachian Trail), and he is certainly willing to spoonfeed the reader his inconsistent mix of praise and criticism regarding every person, town, and political view he encounters. He easily dismisses the failed attempt of a through-hiker a few short weeks before dropping off of the trail himself, and he spends much of the rest of the book in his car, road-tripping to various spots along the Appalachian trail so he can get his boots muddy and use that as an excuse to write with forced authority about something he clearly did not experience. In the middle of this travelogue, the reader is forced to endure a tirades against the Army Corps of Engineers, another tirade in favor of ROAD HIKING sections of the trail that parallel civilization, long winded criticisms of any hiker who is slower (or faster) than he, complaints about any town or village with, say, a lack of sidewalks or an abundance of roads ... you catch my drift. For a great american travelogue, instead of reading this blather, try "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat Moon. And why doesn't amazon have a ZERO STAR RATING for books like this one?
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