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Summary: A ROAD BOOK TO ENJOY
Review: Just finished this book and thouroughlt enjoyed it.Have read several others by E.W.Teale,Steinbeck,Twain,R.T.Peterson,L.McMurtry,P.Dunne,K.Kaufaan and in my opinion this was up there with the best of them.Although I must admit I found the first half of the book more interesting than the second.Tis may have been because the people in the areas were more colorful or perhaps the author was tiring a bit.Recommend it as a good read.
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Summary: Excellent Adventure
Review: This is a classic in travel essays. Awesome stories, but a bit long-winded.
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Summary: A Touchstone
Review: Those who enjoy travel, either for pleasure or at work (probably both), will likely appreciate what's presented in this book. Many who travel ceaselessly are troubled, and Mr. Moon addresses that, in a most pleasant fashion, as well as presenting excellent descriptions of specific places. How he manages to meet so many interesting people on a single journey amazes, but I'm an engineer.This book is best appreciated while driving through one of the described areas and listening to an audio version. I've become accustomed to listening to the book every year as I drive around the West. Mr. Moon's politics tend left (which mine don't), but it's easy to overlook while his excellent prose is digested. Enjoy.
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Summary: One of my 5 favorite books
Review: This is a great travalogue of personal discovery. By far his best work. I feel it is one of the best travelogues out there.
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Summary: Blue Highways Changed My Life
Review: This book entered my life in 1988 when I happened to mention to a literate friend that I planned to quit my job and tour America. She recommended this book as good reading and sure enough I found Blue Highways to be the perfect outline for my own journey. I hit the road in the spring of 1989 in a '69 VW Camper and followed Bill's philosophy to take the smallest roads possible. My God! I can still remember poking along the Louisiana Bayou's on Hwy 82 like it was yesterday. Traveling along the backroads at a slow and easy pace is the only real way to see America. Whenever I need to reconnect with what was the best two months of my life I pull out Blue Highways and my own trip journal. While I agree with the author that much has changed, and not for the better, even more of what is best of America is still waiting to be discovered.
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Summary: How depressing can you get?
Review: If you're into traveling along the back roads of America, definately pick up this book. But certainly do not read it unless you are in high enough spirits that the author's continuous depression and disappointment won't get you down - not too much, anyway. Yes, he lost his job and his wife - and that's what prompted his little foray around the country to find America and find himself, but it almost seems like he deliberately set out to find the most miserable people and places in the entire land. They say misery loves company - and Least Heat-Moon sure found plenty of company every bit as miserable and depressed as he was. I had kinda hoped for a recounting of places that were fun, exciting, interesting, and a discovery of what's GOOD about America, but to Least Heat-Moon, there is nothing good about it, and he damned sure wants you to know just how bad everything is. The only reason I gave it any stars at all is that the journey, in and of itself, is interesting. But all the lamenting had me wondering if by the time he got done writing he'd just plunge his truck off a cliff and get it over with already.
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Summary: Brilliant writing and Brilliant reading!
Review: This is a brilliantly funny book, but frankly I recommend the reading on audio tape because Keith Szarabajka (the gruffly stick-his-finger-in-the-fan Mickey Kostmayer of The Equalizer) makes it even better. His sexy, gravelly voice, is the perfect foil for Least Heath-Moon's utterly droll stroll through the forgotten highways across the US. The wit is incisive, about his personal life and the small towns and villages the blue highways(the roads mark in blue on US maps). These were once the main arteries of the US highways system, but are the 'Norman Bates' now forgotten restaurants, motels and quirky little people that refuse to give up their way of life.
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Summary: America's history is lying away from the Interstates
Review: This book of travels is fascinating because the author takes his subject from an angle that we are not used to. He decides to tour America using only the blue highways, those highways that are not Interstates nor even US highways. So he gets away from the motoring crowd and discovers another America, an America that lives in some tradition, in some order that is based on stable connections with nature and with social communities. He also tries to discover America and its history by meeting people and exploring local history, the history of small villages or cities and their citizens. His history is more story than history but it is very human and deeply fed with a culture that the franchised facade we know everyday may us think it has completely disappeared, or even that it has never existed. This constant delving into the deeper layers of our reality is giving us some energy to resist the franchising process and to look for men and women who have made this country and are still giving this country some tasty flesh and thrilling energy. We are glad to understand that America really is what we hope it is, a deeply human and humane culture and not only the fast-running and media-superficial Internet glasswindow that hides the back-shop and the men who work behind the wings.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan.
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Summary: *THE* Ultimate American Roadtrip
Review: This past spring I took a circular, nationwide roadtrip of my own very similar to the one William Least Heat-Moon takes in this great book. Though my trip was a little shorter in length and a lot shorter in duration, I can definitely identify with Heat-Moon's efforts at self-discovery on the back roads of America. The most interesting aspect of this book is Heat-Moon's use of his Indian heritage and frame of mind while interpreting the various persons and regional cultures he comes across. Christians may object to his criticisms of certain religious tenets, especially when he freeloads off some devout Christians for food and lodging a few times during the trip. Also beware of Heat-Moon's habit of quoting Walt Whitman practically every five pages, while he spends far too much space on certain people and places. But otherwise we have a highly compelling travelogue of the backwaters and isolated small town denizens of unknown America, as well as many insights into the soul of the writer, and possibly the reader if he/she is so inclined. Also, the journey described took place back in 1978, and while certain descriptions and narratives are outdated, Heat-Moon was already lamenting the disintegration of America's small town charm by the fast-food/convenience subculture, which was just getting started at that time. Little did he know how much worse it would get! This book, along with the works of Kerouac and Steinbeck, belongs with the great American roadtrip classics.
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Summary: A solid, enjoyable travel narrative
Review: In Blue Highways, we get to share in William Least Heat-Moon's journey across America in a trip taken about 20 years ago. The trip was brought about by the demise of his marriage and the loss of his job. In an effort to reconnect with himself and his fellow Americans, Heat-Moon embarks on a journey without a schedule or destination. He seeks to just go, meet people, and see what happens. And here is the real strength of this book: Heat-Moon does an incredible job of capturing the essence of the people he encounters along the way. By sticking to the back roads (blue highways), he meets average, ordinary people and isn't shy about striking up conversations with them. As he discovers, people are pretty much the same anywhere: most like to talk about themselves, many have an interesting story or two, and everyone's looking to connect with someone/something.
I found this book to be quite an enjoyable journey. Even though sections of it are somewhat dated, the essence of the trip still rings true. For someone looking for a humorous travel narrative similar to Bill Bryson, you may need to keep looking. While there are humorous sections to this story, this tends to be much more introspective than anything Bryson writes.
I guess ultimately this book will appeal to those of us who would love to be able just to pack up the car, fill the gas tank, and take off wherever the road may lead. I know I had my atlas next to me as I read this and traced virtually his entire journey on my map. What I wouldn't give to be able to do a 25-year follow-up and see what has changed (or what hasn't!). This is a great book to get your imagination going!
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