This was a great read! I am basically a fiction reader, but this book got me from the first page. The author really makes hiking the Appalachian Trail sound very interesting...lots of facts, humor (and opinions) about the trail, the locales and the people you meet along the way.

Bill Bryson is a wonderful story teller. The book is about his adventure hiking the Appalachian Trail, the people he meets along the way, facts, figures and history about the forests, the trail, and spots along the way. Just as several of his other travel books, this one is filled with wit, wisdom and a story like few are able to tell.

I liked this book because it gave me a sense of taking a walk in the woods, and to a place I had never been before--the Appalachian Trail. It was not just a book about someone's experiences but was also quite humorous. It was a very fun book to read. I am confident that anything this writer expresses will be entertaining.

This is one of my favorite books of all time. I love books about hiking. This is about 2 fat boys setting out to hike the AT. Bill's partner starts throwing stuff out of his backpack within the first day or so. Funny and interesting. Led me to read most of Bill's books, but I like this one the best.

I never thought a book about hiking would make me laugh, but it did. It was my first Bryson book and now I want to read more of his works.

Hilarious! You won't go wrong.

This is a great book. I don't ordinarily read "travelogs", but I found this one very funny and informative at the same time.

It is about 2 middle-aged guys who decide to walk the Appalachian Trail (2200 miles from Georgia to Maine). Along the way they meet some nice, some obnoxious people, admire the beauty of the land, tell you the truth about the National Park Service, and the history of the trail.

very funny! The only thing is he did not hike the entire trail. A little dissappointing.

An amusing book by Bill Bryson on his adventures on the Appalachian trail.

Returning to the U.S. after 20 years in England, Iowa native Bryson decided to reconnect with his mother country by hiking the length of the 2100-mile Appalachian Trail. Awed by merely the camping section of his local sporting goods store, he nevertheless plunges into the wilderness and emerges with a consistently comical account of a neophyte woodsman learning hard lessons about self-reliance. Bryson (The Lost Continent) carries himself in an irresistibly bewildered manner, accepting each new calamity with wonder and hilarity. He reviews the characters of the AT (as the trail is called), from a pack of incompetent Boy Scouts to a perpetually lost geezer named Chicken John. Most amusing is his cranky, crude and inestimable companion, Katz, a reformed substance abuser who once had single-handedly "become, in effect, Iowa's drug culture." The uneasy but always entertaining relationship between Bryson and Katz keeps their walk interesting, even during the flat stretches. Bryson completes the trail as planned, and he records the misadventure with insight and elegance. He is a popular author in Britain and his impeccably graceful and witty style deserves a large American audience as well.

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I liked this book better than "AWOL On The Appalachian Trail"; aside from some brief politicizing (all of which I agreed with and I understand why the author included it), it doesn't have the same feel as "AWOL" but presents the experience with more wit. The single greatest difference is the authors' perspective on FOOD: "AWOL" focuses a great deal on the need to obtain more and more nutrition at every possible place (off the trail) while "A Walk..." focuses more on the things I would most likely notice: surroundings and the ever present thought, "Why the HECK am I doing this?" Why, indeed.

A very funny book. Bryson manages to mix humor with history lessons. Laugh a little, learn a little, just an enjoyable read. I always thought I would have liked to walk the trail but it sounds like an episode of self-abuse!

Not the quality nature writing I'm used to, very simplistic. Written from a man's point of view, boring at times. Not worth the time to read when there are so many wonderful books out there. bb from utah

Fun stuff. Makes you want to go hiking. Looking forward to reading his next one.

A nice book but not "very funny," as some reviews claim.
Also somewhat anti-climactic :-(
but still worth the read.

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