Rating: 
Summary: For thru-hikers and wanna-be's alike
Review: A grand adventure. Walk with Rubin on this pilgrimage/adventure/quest and experience not only the joy, but the trials and hardships of hiking the Appalachian Trail. A great combination of practical hiking information and well-written trail narrative. A fantastic book for those who have experienced the AT and those who can only dream of it.
Rating:
Summary: Finally! An AT book for me...
Review: As a semi-serious "section" hiker (i.e., more than a day-hiker, but not quite a thru-hiker), I've found that there is very little hiking literature that "speaks" to me.Oh, sure, I can certainly find books to tell me what kind of pack and boots to buy or to help me choose what trails to walk. And, there are plenty of books filled with trail wisdom from those who have met the challenge of thru-hiking the AT. But, I have yearned for a book that would help me to understand the mental and spiritual side of Everyman "making the long walk." Not since Earl Shaffer's "Walking with Spring" and Taylor Morris' "Walk of the Conscious Ants" have I enjoyed a hiking book so much. Many will look to compare Rubin's book to Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods." Bryson's book was well-written and beyond funny, that's for sure, and it served to introduce many a soul to the trail I love so much. But, I feel more a kinship with Rubin... Rubin's book was well-written, honest, and exciting. It put me "on the beaten path" next to the author. I couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Deal
Review: Bryson's book was comedy. Rubin's book is reality. Each is a worthwhile read, but for different reasons. Rubin has captured the essence and magnitude of a long distance hike, including plenty of humor. Bryson did what Bryson does, exaggerate his perceptions and make people laugh out loud. If pure fun and laughter are your goals, go read Bryson. If you want a personal peek inside a real thruhike, follow Rhymin' Worm from GA-ME. While his occasional mention of job and marital woes may be distracting for some readers intent on the guts of the hike, such thoughts and emotions are indeed typical of the stuff which stirs in a thruhiker's mind during the seemingly-endless, thousand-plus hours he or she is striding the trail. This book is well-crafted, and gives the reader an authentic look inside the thruhike experience.
Rating: 
Summary: If you liked A Walk In the Woods, you'll love this one
Review: I agree, if you liked A Walk in the Woods, you may like this one, because both books humor rather than inform. The author of this book tries to instill sympathy for himself throughout the book because of his hardships. A sympathy I feel is not merited. As he hikes, he does not find happiness with nature, but every step is full of agony. Every day hiking is not all roses, but there is no need to focus on the bad times.
Rating:
Summary: An outward journey with an inner journey
Review: I could sense through this story how the author fights not only fatigue, monotony and injury but also goes through emotional trials and guilt regarding his marriage, his career and his place in the world. The trail becomes a salve to his emotional wounds, even as it eats his body away. He comes away from the trail much lighter in mind and body. Anyone who is aged 30 to 50 will relate to his ambivalence to what his life had become and will come away from his tale wanting to run, not walk, to the nearest park. A great read!
Rating:
Summary: Not a How-to Book.
Review: I recently completed reading "On the Beaten Path" by Robert Rubin. It is a (recent) release about an Appalachian thruhike pilgrimage. You have probably read other journals if considering walking the 2100 mile journey but I am sure you won't find one better. It is not a "how to" book. Rather, his prose are that of a trained writer which makes reading the journal swift and entertaining. Rubin somehow doesn't write much about his gear not unlike a surgeon omitting comments about a particular scalpel. Being a gear addict, I was dissappointed because of this omission but accepted the fact that his load was just plain heavy. Rubin does write of the heavy feeling in his heart as each step takes him further and further from his wife but closer to his ultimate goal of completing the trail. I never really considered thruhiking the Appalachian Trail. Too many sacrifices and excuses at this stage of my life. Robert Rubin felt the same way but one day realized he needed to do something meaningful for himself. I may not ever find myself on Springer Mountain in Georgia where the trail commences but after reading this delightful book, I will always look at thruhikers with a renewed amount of respect. - John
Rating:
Summary: Well-balanced account of an AT thruhike
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this chronicle of one thruhiker's journey on the Appalachian Trail, reading the entire thing in one night when I should have been doing other work. Rubin is candid, humorous, and brutally honest about himself, his shortcomings, and his complex relationships with others (particularly his wife Cathy). He acknowledges upfront that his reasons for tackling the AT are somewhat nebulous, though it appears a sense of ennui with life and his editorial job are the main culprits. Here is AT subculture in all its glory - Rubin has both amusing and sobering accounts of his fellow hikers. There is a woman who stays true to her makeup regimen every day before hiking, a couple obsessive about analyzing their every move on the Trail, and a bragging yuppie type trying to save face in light of the emptiness inside. Rubin ventures into deeper ruminations: Why do hikers adopt a temporary "trail name"/identity for the experience? How do you cope with those you leave behind? How do they cope? While he can't offer quick-fix answers, he deals with these questions on a level that's refreshing to see (unlike Bill Bryson's book, where he leaves his wife and four kids for weeks on the AT and hardly expresses an afterthought). There are a few sections where Rubin's trains of thought are long-winded, or he uses far too many words to get to the point. He hiked the AT in 1997 and his chronicles about learning of Princess Di's death early that fall give the book a dated and forced "where-were-you-when" feel. Far more eerie was a short description of how the top floors of the Twin Towers are the first things he can see and identify in the Manhattan skyline. In the end, however, it is clear that he has a lot of wisdom to offer after his time on the Trail - both his own quotable passages and well-chosen verses and phrases from Walt Whitman, Thoreau, and John McPhee that he has selected for chapter openers and for his own philosophical discourses. In one of the more memorable sections of the book, he realizes why his complacent behavior at the office made the job turn sour for him. His issues may not be 100% resolved at Katahdin, but the book finishes with a true sense of having completed something worthwhile, and being the better off for it.
Rating:
Summary: A great book.
Review: It's strange to read a book where I slowed down toward the end of the book and "rationed" off the remainder so it wouldn't end. I highly recommend it if you're interested in the Appalachian trail.
Rating:
Summary: A book that really gets you inside a thru-hiker.
Review: Last month I completed my southbound thru-hike of the AT and I was looking for a book that captures the essence of what it is to be a thru-hiker and do a thru-hike. Robert Rubin does an absolutely perfect job of describing what it's like. I laughed my way through this book because I could relate so well to all that he wrote. If you want to feel what it's like to do a thru-hike read this book. It really gets you there. I know, my toes are still numb, my knees still a little sore. Happy Trails,
Play-doh, MEGA '02 June 6, 2002 to November 8, 2002
Rating: 
Summary: Buh...
Review: There's a mean-spirited thread running through this book that left me feeling like I was something I didn't want to be a part of, whether it was trashing work, trashing society, calling out people's innermost feelings (as he imagines them) or listing out who won't make it and why. At 37, he starts out a bitter old man and finishes up... a bitter old man who isn't finished hiding from life yet.
Read Jean Deeds' "There Are Mountains To Climb" to shrug off the effects of this book.
| 
