Rating: 
Summary: Lighten Up People!
Review: This book has some extremely funny laugh-out-loud parts. It is NOT meant to be a technical hiking book for crying out loud! So what if he doesn't complete the trail? Should that prevent him from having a sense of humour? There seem to be those who find his sharp looks at the people of a certain area too critical. I say again: lighten up! The first Bryson book I read was "Notes from a Small Island" in which he casts his critical (but loving) eye at the British people, and as a Brit I can say it was all pretty much spot on, and damned funny to boot. The reason I gave the book only three stars is because it does drag on a little, especially when Katz is not there to buffer Bryson's angst. Nevertheless, worth a read. Keep 'em coming Bryson.
Rating: 
Summary: wry sense of humour
Review: Reading Bryson is like being in the presence of casual friends, who might inevitably spice up their accounts of adventure with slight exaggerations, but heck, that's the fun of it. His openness is refreshing, even if they may be considered irreverent by some.
Rating: 
Summary: How Disappointing!
Review: I wanted to really like this book, but I was just offended. Apparently the only reason the author had to hike the A.T. was to gather material for the book. Everytime Bill or his companion were frustrated by the rigors of the trail, it seemed that they "got even" by throwing excess weight into the woods. Har Har!The author spends a lot of time talking about how scary bears are, and how everything is going to hell in a handbasket, but most of the AT he day hikes using his car. I just don't think he got it. Although the personal anecdotes are entertaining, I just can't get the bad taste the whining (and other very visible shortcomings) left in my mouth. -A PATC member P.S., any guesses as to his trail name? My thought is that he didn't spend enough time on the A.T. to have one....
Rating: 
Summary: Take me with you!
Review: Once again, Bill Bryson takes me on a hilarious journey back through my country of birth and demistifies the experience. I'm still not sure if I relate more to the un-fit Katz, who throws their provisions over a cliff to save on the weight, or Bill as he heads for the nearest hotel for a hot shower! Bill Bryson's greatest talent is to see his own country through foreign eyes but with the sentimentality of your childhood memories. Bills next book will be about Australia so we will see if Aussies can laugh at themselves too!
Rating:
Summary: great fun--if you're not easily offended
Review: this is a hilarious book! as usual, bryson's great sense of sarcastic shines throughout his adventure. i thought his explanation of the origin of the AT was almost reverential. . .he gave a respectful account of how it came to be. that he didn't hike the entire thing seems almost irrelevant: hooray for all those thru-hikers who DID make it. . .bryson didnt make it but, hey, lighten up-- he gave us many laughs along the way.
Rating:
Summary: I laughed from the first page to the last
Review: Maybe you have to be a middle-aged guy to get the jokes but, this book is funny. I loved the book and want to get back to the "AT" as soon as I can.
Rating: 
Summary: Hiker from Hell
Review: Bill Bryson comes across as the original Hiker from Hell. This book is a con; the man only did a tiny fragment of the trail and dresses it up as 'rediscovering America'!! He runs down other people who were clearly better hikers than himself; and in the middle of the night he THROWS A STICK AT A LARGE ANIMAL WHOSE EYES HE CAN SEE IN HIS FLASHLIGHT BEAM AT THE PERIPHERY OF THEIR SITE, AND WHICH HE THINKS IS A BEAR! The man is a liability; he's lucky he didn't get his face torn off. He has the gall to gas on about the environment and the National Park Service when he's chucking sticks at bears and leaving a trail of garbage. If I did all the things (including cracked the 'jokes') he did on the trail I'd be ashamed to write about it!
Rating:
Summary: A Walk in the Woods is amusing,meaty and refreshing.B
Review: Bryson is a writer who entices you on, with a variety of eenjoyable means- you can't help sympathizing with his grandiose scheme to hike the entire Appalachion Trail with his inept companion,who has no notion of the demands of the project. They may have found the whole impossible to achieve but how you envy them the part they did, and their splendid appreciation of the wilderness in the process. It would be a lot harder for me to walk the entire length of the Appalachion Trail than for these two characters, but it was a hoot to be along for the try. Some of the humor is at the edge of despair. At least the two charactors are human and what grand insights are part of the try.
Rating:
Summary: Actually I'd give it 3 1/2 stars!! It had its moments.
Review: I heard Bryson interviewed on the radio this summer prior to a month's trip to Scotland. His interview intrigued me and make me want to read his latest book. In Scotland I picked up his book Made in America and spoke to a couple of Scottish people who wondered aloud why Bryson was more popular in the UK than in the States. I wondered too and when I arrived home I got a copy of his latest book. It is clever (in parts, that is) but it does get draggy at times. I had a feeling he wanted to get it to press quickly (like my Amazon review) and forget the editing. It needed some pairing down, but then it may have only make it as a long magazine article. Unlike some of the other readers, I wasn't offended with his depictions of the people he met --- I thought he was pretty even handed, some were obnoxious and some very pleasant, sort of the way it is when I travel. There's a cross section of types where ever you go! Actually I would've enjoyed the book more, if I had gotten a better sense of the people he did meet. After all what made you motivated to spend a couple months of your life walking the AT. I like to hike, but I'm not sure Bryson really was interested in doing more than getting a book from it. There never seemed to be a convincing reason for him to be out there. Compare it with a Walk across France where the author was trying to put his marriage and life together after a number of years on Wall Street. I enjoyed it more-- descriptions of nature secondhand don't do it for me. I would prefer to be there myself.
Rating:
Summary: A subtle blend of hilarity and fascinating route information
Review: Bryson does a number of things in this book. First, he establishes a groundbase of what is to follow throughout; Hilarious, sarcastic wit that's sure to keep the reader riveted, even if only for the laughs. Second, he describes in intricate detail every step of the route, it's highs and it's lows. His hapless and hopelessly unfit companion Katz is an endless source of amusing one liners; "Why did you throw away the coffee filters Steven, they couldn't have weighed more than a couple of ounces?". "Yeah, but they were great for throwing, fluttered everywhere!". At times, some of the information Bryson gives you is labouriously in depth, but every now and again you will read some statistic and think "Wow, that's incredible". Bryson has truly researched his facts here, facts are clearly his forte, and he uses the humour to subtly put across a mine of information, at times fascinating and at others heavy going. I have this image of Bryson as being Gary Larson the cartoonist, it's the same clever wit, and Katz, in my mind is the late great John Candy. The chemical reaction of the two is superb and they set each other off to a 'T'. Whatever your views on travel type, guide type books or dry humour, give this one a shot, it was a big hit for me, but beware, like me you could get hooked. I had to go out and buy three more of Brysons books. In short, possibly the best book I've read this year. I can't give it less than five, I only wish I could give it more!
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