• Paddle Your Own Canoe

  • One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living
  • By: Nick Offerman
  • Narrated by: Nick Offerman
  • Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (13,087 ratings)

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Paddle Your Own Canoe  By  cover art

Paddle Your Own Canoe

By: Nick Offerman
Narrated by: Nick Offerman
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Publisher's summary

Parks and Recreation actor Nick Offerman shares his humorous fulminations on life, manliness, meat, and much more in his first book.

Growing a perfect moustache, grilling red meat, wooing a woman - who better to deliver this tutelage than the always charming, always manly Nick Offerman, best known as Parks and Recreation's Ron Swanson? Combining his trademark comic voice and very real expertise in woodworking - he runs his own woodshop - Paddle Your Own Canoe features tales from Offerman's childhood in small-town Minooka, Illinois - "I grew up literally in the middle of a cornfield" - to his theater days in Chicago, beginnings as a carpenter/actor and the hilarious and magnificent seduction of his now-wife Megan Mullally. It also offers hard-bitten battle strategies in the arenas of manliness, love, style, religion, woodworking, and outdoor recreation, among many other savory entrees.

A mix of amusing anecdotes, opinionated lessons and rants, sprinkled with offbeat gaiety, Paddle Your Own Canoe will not only tickle readers pink but may also rouse them to put down their smart phones, study a few sycamore leaves, and maybe even handcraft (and paddle) their own canoes.

©2013 Nick Offerman (P)2013 Penguin

Critic reviews

“[Offerman] not only explores his Paul Bunyan-like image with tongue-in-cheek lessons on manliness, complete with illustrations and advice, but also offers poignant memories of his childhood growing up in Illinois and hilarious anecdotes from his career.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Offerman touches on everything from his days as a break-dancing, football-playing farm boy in Minooka (about 50 miles southwest of the Loop) to his freewheeling, hedonistic 20s in Chicago to the inevitable Hollywood struggles that followed. But he doesn’t gloss over embarrassing moments, including his two trips to jail during college at the University of Illinois - one for shoplifting Ronnie Milsap cassettes from Kmart as a joke; the other, he says, a convoluted case of mistaken identity. Between anecdotes, he delivers impassioned pleas and rants…” (Chicago magazine)

“Thought-provoking, profane, and frequently hilarious…getting to know Offerman through his stumbling courtship with Megan Mullally and Kabuki theater training is well worth the price of admission.” (Publishers Weekly)

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What listeners say about Paddle Your Own Canoe

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    5 out of 5 stars

Nick Offerman is a comedy god.

I laughed the entire time due to Nicks clever comedy, and always love his voice.

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amazing

Nick Offerman is a genius. This book was hilarious, insightful and extremely entertaining all at the same time.

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Exactly what you'd expect

If you love Nick Offerman, you will love this book. It was Amazing. Two Word

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Bought on a Whim

I didn't know much about Nick Offerman, but thought what the hell. Loved every second and now a huge fan.

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Hilarious coming of age stories.

This book is one of the best Ive read in a long time. With stories anyone can relate to, read by the author himself. Thank you Mr. Offerman. Your voice helps bring this whole tging together.

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A very good audiobook

It's very good. That is all I need to say but I need 15 words or more.

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Offerman makes your heart into soup

Humble, kind, funny and raunchy, Nick Offerman's tale will either inspire you to live more deliciously or remind you f how deliciously you live. Maybe both. Otherwise, you have no heart to be made into soup in the first place and/or you're a vegetarian.

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really funny book

Definitely worth the purchase for the irreverent humor and wonderful storytelling. I highly recommend this book to others

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awesome all the way

couldn't love him more than I do now. has great stories and advice. made me wish I could work with wood and be as adventurous as he is.

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Nice story

This is a good story of Nick's life and his philosophy on life. He, clearly, has strong opinions on how one (or at least how he) should live his life. But he conveys those opinions in such a non preachy, down to earth, way that I would recommend this book very highly.

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