Rating: 
Summary: Quite entertaining!
Review: I brought this book with me on a long car trip and found it ideal reading, and very interesting and well-written. The author hitchhikes (mostly) across the U.S.A. after doing same some 20 years ago in his hippie days. He has some anxiety but finds his fears overblown. (Truthfully, this kind of book really, really, really makes one want to chuck everything, the house, the mate, the kids, the job, and just hit the open road. I mean this.) He meets kind and interesting people, too. I would compare this book to the writings of Bill Bryson, though without Bryson's humor. I only wish the book was longer!
Rating:
Summary: Quite entertaining!
Review: I brought this book with me on a long car trip and found it ideal reading, and very interesting and well-written. The author hitchhikes (mostly) across the U.S.A. after doing same some 20 years ago in his hippie days. He has some anxiety but finds his fears overblown. (Truthfully, this kind of book really, really, really makes one want to chuck everything, the house, the mate, the kids, the job, and just hit the open road. I mean this.) He meets kind and interesting people, too. I would compare this book to the writings of Bill Bryson, though without Bryson's humor. I only wish the book was longer!
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: I can't recommend this book. For a book that was supposed to be about hitchhiking, the author spent a lot of time in the car with his photographer, and on buses. I bought the book after hearing an interview with the author on NPR. Based on that, I was expecting a lot more humor, interesting people and profound observations/insights. I was disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: I can't recommend this book. For a book that was supposed to be about hitchhiking, the author spent a lot of time in the car with his photographer, and on buses. I bought the book after hearing an interview with the author on NPR. Based on that, I was expecting a lot more humor, interesting people and profound observations/insights. I was disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: entertaining in spots, but overall falls a bit short
Review: I did enjoy many parts of this account of the author's adventures hitchhiking (and driving with his photographer) across the U.S. I have a few criticisms though: 1 -- he spends chapters talking about the great photos the photographer is supposedly taking, but the photo section only has a measly 13! What happened to all the photos????? 2 -- there are many grammatical and typographical mistakes. In fact, the reader before me must have been bothered because he/she circled all of them. 3 -- after a while, it is easy to lose interest in his account. I'm not trying to nitpick, as I did like the author's dry wit and detailed recounting of American cities and sights. However, this book is definitely not as interesting as many other travel/adventure books I've read. It doesn't try to be pretentious or draw grand conclusions about life (thank goodness) which makes it more palatable, but it's still not a great travel book. The prose kind of dries up in the second half.
Rating:
Summary: entertaining in spots, but overall falls a bit short
Review: I did enjoy many parts of this account of the author's adventures hitchhiking (and driving with his photographer) across the U.S. I have a few criticisms though: 1 -- he spends chapters talking about the great photos the photographer is supposedly taking, but the photo section only has a measly 13! What happened to all the photos????? 2 -- there are many grammatical and typographical mistakes. In fact, the reader before me must have been bothered because he/she circled all of them. 3 -- after a while, it is easy to lose interest in his account. I'm not trying to nitpick, as I did like the author's dry wit and detailed recounting of American cities and sights. However, this book is definitely not as interesting as many other travel/adventure books I've read. It doesn't try to be pretentious or draw grand conclusions about life (thank goodness) which makes it more palatable, but it's still not a great travel book. The prose kind of dries up in the second half.
Rating:
Summary: Slow to Start - Difficult to Finish
Review: I thought this book was about a hitchhiking experience, but was suprised to find the author taking buses or riding with his photographer from New York City into PA, then from Ohio well into Wyoming. I found his writing style to be rambling and uninteresting, and was unable to keep reading after 100 pages or so. Had he truly hitchhiked, and kept to stories about hitchhiking, he probably would have written a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Slow to Start - Difficult to Finish
Review: I thought this book was about a hitchhiking experience, but was suprised to find the author taking buses or riding with his photographer from New York City into PA, then from Ohio well into Wyoming. I found his writing style to be rambling and uninteresting, and was unable to keep reading after 100 pages or so. Had he truly hitchhiked, and kept to stories about hitchhiking, he probably would have written a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Stick Your Thumb Out
Review: Often the biggest risk facing summer travels is whether to pick up that lonely hitchhikcer standing on the side of the road. With so much fear built into the idea of hitchhicker, it is hard to believe that you can still make it across this country on with the help of others.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but did miss the spot at times
Review: To summarise, an entertaining read over about 2 weeks worth of pre-sleep reading. As a fan of road-trip-esque books, I was looking forward to this jaunt around the country. Brooks has an entertaining style of writing that, for the most part, was clear and understandable. His research and fact-finding is a little ropey, naming Keystone, Wyoming as a chapter when in fact Keystone is in South Dakota for example.Sure he didn't exactl hitch all the way but give the guy credit, he sure did hitch a lot of the way. If you can get past the errors, you'll be left with an enjoyable read.
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