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Rating: 
Summary: "Weird" title for un-weird hikes
Review: At the end of nearly every one of these stories, I found myself saying, "I can't believe he calls that a weird hike." It was usually his imagination rather than the actual events that made the stories weird. Nonetheless I kept reading. The author is almost a very good writer and perhaps with a constructive editor he would be so. Out of the 13 (or was it 14?) stories, about four of them were good. Two or three were totally boring and the rest were OK. As an avid hiker, I tentatively recommend this book. TIP: Don't expect the stories to be weird and you'll probably enjoy them more.
Rating: 
Summary: Great fun and plausible.
Review: Bernstein has a way of capturing your heart and soul into his thirty years of hiking experiences and escapades. Not only is this book brilliantly researched and richly packed with knowledge, his warmth and wit and spiritual insight make it a joy and entertaining book to read. Very funny and intensely clever...... and real.... and much more than a book on hiking.
Rating:
Summary: A rare treat: A hiking guide that's also great reading
Review: I dont usually expect a guidebook to be great literature. Since Weird hikes is all about encounters with the unexpected, I guess it's appropriate that I was pleasantly surprised. The book is mainly a collection of "ghost" stories that are by turns eerie, beautiful, touching, funny and thought provoking. Their commonality lies in the fact that they are all well-crafted page turners. That you can visit the places described in the stories is a delightful bonus. The stories also offer an extra incentive to get off the couch and into the woods. I cant wait to head out on my own "weird hike".
Rating:
Summary: Great fun and plausible.
Review: I just read and enjoyed Art Bernstein's "Weird Hikes." I found the book great fun and well written (for the most part), with an easy to read, intimate style. The stories "Mad Deer," "I Hear
Footprints," "On Beyond Bigfoot" and "Between Bears and Men," were intense, fast-paced, dramatic and very spooky. Other stories emphasized the weird aspect a little less and concentrated more on humor ("The Black Butte Miracle"), or on personal or spiritual insights ("The First Hike" and "Dream Trails"). I thought Bernstein achieved a pretty good balance. Readers should bear mind that the stories are supposedly all true and all happened to the same person. I have no doubt that the author could write 14 excellent hiking stories about crazed vampires, vengeful cars that mysteriously come to life and start killing everyone, or young girls with the ability to psychically set people on fire. But those stories would not be plausible if passed off as true. The beauty of Bernstein's stories is that they are completely believable. Even "Mad Deer" and "On Beyond Bigfoot," strange as they are, could reasonably happen to anybody.
Rating:
Summary: Take it with you
Review: I loved this book. As an avid hiker I'm always looking for good tent reading. Weird Hikes hits the mark. Each tale leads you to the next and makes you want to recount all of your own weird hikes. The stories are witty and engaging and they're even better when the pages are illuminated by a campfire or lantern.
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