A Walk in the Woods

By: Bill Bryson

Narrated by: Bill Bryson

Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

"Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire, I happened upon a path that vanished into a wood on the edge of town." So begins Bill Bryson's hilarious book, A Walk in the Woods. Following his return to America after 20 years in Britain, Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. The AT, as it's affectionately known to thousands of hikers, offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes - and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to test his own powers of ineptitude, and to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson's acute eye is a wise witness to this fragile and beautiful trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America's last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, a lament, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods is destined to become a modern classic of travel literature.

©1998 Bill Bryson (P)1998 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House Inc.

Adventure Humor

I enjoyed the humor approach to this nonfiction account of hiking the Appalachian trail. The authors relationship with his companion Cats provides a chuckle among the detailed description of the trail and hardships.

Abridged version in Bryson voice

This is an abridged version but I love it in Bryson’s own voice. I’d recommend read / listen the full version.

Bryson discovered an America that millions of people scarcely know exists. He made a friend. He came home. He hiked the AT.

Bryson at his Best

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook.
The story of Bill Bryson and his childhood friend Stephen Katz’s attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine was informational and also quite funny. Bryson has a very humorous turn of phrase and I could have listened to hours more on this subject.

Great book

I really enjoyed the story very much .I also watched the movie ,then bought it , then the book. More adventurous then book but less cursing ! I enjoyed your Narration very much . Expressing the flowers wildflowers I felt like I was there . I love hearing the story while I am on the tread mill. Thank you for sharing your story.

wonderful, I reccomend highly

will read/listen to it time and time again. wonderful book. I highly recommend. Bill voice is mesmerizing.

I have listened to this engaging story over and over

The story of Bill Bryson and is friend Steven Katz hiking the Appalachian Trail is delightful. Don’t miss out. Seriously!!

Wonderful story, great audiobook

I love audobooks that are actually read by the author, and this one in particular was fun to listen to because the narrator actually lived through the story he is telling about. While I was at first dubious about the title, I found Bryson's delivery engaging enough and was soon imagining mysef out there in the woods with him.
This book is perfect for listening on long walks and sitting outside somewhere. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately looked to find others written by the same author, only to find that I had already owned one ("A Short History of Nearly Everything") that was in my "to listen to again" pile.
A tell-tale sign that a book is a good read is when you find it in the store and are tempted to actually purchase the hard copy for your actual bookshelf.
I look forward to reading another Bryson book as soon as this one is done.

a unique Bryson experience

This is my favorite work by Bill Bryson, not because it is the best written or because it is the most interesting story, but because it feels the most personal out of all his works. Where as in other books, he is a witty and cool oberver of the places he sets out to explore (albeit with very keen insights and appreciation for history, local folklore and compelling statistics), in A Walk in the Woods, he is neck deep in it all: the sufferings in harsh conditions, the hopelessness and bleakness he faces at times, the mesmerizing beauty of the Appalachians and heartfelt appreciation for the little things that one can only gain after being through the rough. It is deeply personal. Remember in the movie, "Castaway" how devastated Tom Hanks was when he lost Wilson? There's a similar moment in A Walk in the Woods, and you've never seen Bill Bryson so vulnerable and so personal. Also, Stephen Catz, Bryson's bumbling companion during this trip, is the most humorous partner Bryson had in any of his adventures in all of his travel narratives; yet even in this, there's a deep sense of companionship that I've never seen in Bryson's other works.

Yes, as a reviewer noted, one of the drawbacks of this whole adventure is that Bill Bryson lacks a strong sense of purpose on why he has embarked on this endeavor and this results in a frustrating stretch of half-hearted day hikes that, for me, was the most unsatisfying part of the whole adventure. Other than this, however, I highly recommend this unique listening experience for fans of Bill Bryson.

A Different Mindset

It took me a while to "shift" into the narrative of someone descrbing his preparations for a walk. Because it doesn't seem particularly funny, I didn't fully appreciate the first 45 minutes, or so. But as you listen, you realize just how funny, witty and insightful this book becomes. Like Katz to Bryson in the tale, A Walk in the Woods grows on you; and you're sorry at the end to say goodbye.

Fascinating

Bill Bryson, once again, entertains as he writes. Travel books are the notoriously self undulgent perogative of the author and rarely well written. Usually they throw a favorable light on the author more than inform the reader. Bryson has not fallen into that trap. I was interested in the Appalachian Trail and he gave me a real insight into what life would be like. His people characterizations by dailogue are great fun; but when he describes situations he falls into the trap of using numerous qualifying adjectives and comparative adverbs, in order to add humor. When this happened I found myself going back to my English class "...use the right noun and you need no adjective, use the right adjective and you need no preceding adverb..." all of which would have given his writing more brevity, thus more wit. In these passages, I found Bryson trying too hard. However, he minces the trail talk with observations about History, the Forest Service and other facets of American life, all backed up by surprising statistics. Most of us leave a little greener and disliking bureaucracies even more, I suspect. A great read, only 5 hours, and I'll read him again. By which I mean 'I'll listen again" for Bryson has a gentle voice which provides soothing listening.