Paddle Your Own Canoe

One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living

By: Nick Offerman

Narrated by: Nick Offerman

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

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)

Gotta love that soothing voice 

I’ve always loved the cadence and voice of Nick Offerman, and his advice is sound and honest.

Easy Listen

Nice quick fun listen. Story was a bit repetitive in parts but I find celebrity written books tend to be that way. I believe I’ll get another by Offerman. If nothing else, it inspires me to go outside and enjoy the world around me.

Nick Offerman isn't Ron Swanson

Would you listen to Paddle Your Own Canoe again? Why?

Yes. It's an enjoyable listen.

What did you like best about this story?

The 'fake proposal' story

Any additional comments?

Don't expect this to be a bio of Ron Swanson

Good man, good book

Very entertaining. Had me laughing out loud at times. Had a lot of inspiring thoughts on life.

Very enjoyable autobiography -loved the vocabulary

This was a fun listen. As a person who has read a lot all my life I have censored my speech since childhood - cutting out "big words" that were naturally in my head to "plain words" that would not make me sound pretentious. This resulted in a slight stutter in my speech in my youth as I changed my words before they came out of my mouth. This book was very delightful for me because Nick Offerman went ahead and used the "big words" sentence after sentence - and delivered them sometimes in a droll way that gave them a bit of kick too.

We haven't watched TV for years now and I've never watched Parks and Recreation, nor some of the other shows mentioned in this book, but the autobiography was still enjoyable. I loved how other books were referenced or recommended inside this book.

The language, sexuality, and general grittiness was a bit over the top for me. Oh well.

It was entertaining, a bit enlightening, and a peek into what makes a person unique and successful and happy.

Words to live by

Loved to listen to Nick Offerman read his book. Amazing insights on his life and his words and rules to live by. I thought of Paddle Your Own Canoe as very inspiring.

Ron Swanson Himself!

if you like Nick Offerman you'll love this book! great to hear his come up, his view on life and that he has always just been himself!

More please

Enough said. If i only could have a fraction of this guys life. Thank you for this story.

Solid

F***ing solid! Well proformed and a great tale!
10/10 Wpuld recommend.
* * * * *

Loved it!

Great read and had a couple of driveway moments when I got home. His humor is right up my alley. A lot of language so just be warned if it does bother you.