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)

good book

it is a good book for understanding how to get somewhere in life and his philosophy in life is good and in the right direction but he doesnt quite understand that because things worked out for him therefore they must for all that they dont for all and his advice to eat off the airport bathroom floor....he really misdes on that.

listen outside

great listen for dog walks and hikes. fully agree and support message Nick attempts to convey. great to hear his rise to power.

I was actively smiling for 10 hours

I haven’t laughed so much and enjoyed experience nearly as much as this book and thought is performance source material to yes be irreverent but extremely entertaining.

Funny as shit

Hilarious telling of a bunch of random shit about the guy. If you like him, here’s more of his work.

Love Nick Offerman and love this book!

A beautiful insight into an exceedingly intelligent and down to earth mind. A must read (listen to and/or both).

An intriguing story of a life

When this came out I was a fan of Parks And Recreation and saw the book as another actor trying to make some side money. A couple of works that Nick has done since had me checking into his writing and I found out what I missed out on. This book is insightful in many ways and had laughing at every turn-definitely read it!!!

Really helped our road trip

Stories of life and love from Nick. An excellent audiobook to pass the time on our cross country road trip.

Entertaining listen

I listened to this in one sitting. I couldn't stop. Partly because Nick Offerman has a hypnotic voice, and partly because I was simply curious about what he had to say. He is a fascinating man that legitamately loves his life.

I reccomend it highly. It seems many people wanted a book written by Ron Swanson, but I prefer this. There is a depth of charm and wisdom that wouldn't be there had this book been on meat and scotch.

Ron Swanson

If you could sum up Paddle Your Own Canoe in three words, what would they be?

Funny nonstop listen

What did you like best about this story?

It was narrated by nick offerman

Have you listened to any of Nick Offerman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Just as entertaining as his well written character.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed and felt his passion for life.

Any additional comments?

Please narrate more books nick. Genius.

I get it, don't listen or give credence to jerks

A bit too zealous in its anti-zealotry for much of the beginning of the book, but even so worth a listen. More asininity than you would expect from an aspiring Mark Twain, it is still an honest autobiography that deservedly focuses most of its praise on his family upbringing, and his friends key to his success. That, along with the great value of his own persistence, hard work and just dumb luck make for an entertaining telling of a classic Hollywood story. Worth a listen. but with a lot of profanity.