


If I were going to do a biography, the person who appeals to me is George Washington, but doing the research for that would mean spending at least a couple of years in Virginia for practical reasons - that's not something I'd like to do at my time of life. I really did enjoy the experience but I don't have any plans at the moment to try anything like that again. So it wasn't a full-fledged biography which I think I would have found too daunting. The genesis of that was that an American publisher did a series of half length biographies (40,000 words each) on famous people and asked me if I would take on Shakespeare. Overall, we highly recommend this book! It is laugh-out-loud funny balanced with poignant observations and descriptions of landscapes that are both beautiful and dangerous.Thank you, I'm so glad you like the book. We leave it up to you to make your own judgement. However, some may argue that his portrayal of novice and often rude hikers provides an honesty that makes Bryson’s journey realistic and relatable. The only negative feedback we have about this book is that Bryson can be occasionally mean-spirited in his treatment of other hikers. Here we understand that including native plants in at-home gardens can only help to improve the biodiversity of plants and animals in cities and suburbs where habitat has become dangerously fragmented. They are home to 130 native species of tree the whole of Europe has just 85.” And of course this abundance of flora leads to the conclusion on the following page that “Rich plant life naturally brings rich animal life.”īryson calls for readers to realize “that people and nature could coexist to their mutual benefit,” and at Direct Native Plants we couldn’t agree more. Enthusiasts of both nature and native plants will appreciate that the Smokies “harbor an astonishing range of plant life-over 1,500 types of wildflower, a thousand varieties of shrub, 530 mosses and lichen, 2,000 types of fungi.

What we liked the most about this book is how Bryson wove his humorous personal story together with the history of the AT in order to highlight the ecological value of natural spaces. As they attempt to thru-hike the AT, Bryson utilizes his piercing wit to describe potential pitfalls of the trail (bears!), the absurdity of hikers even less experienced than him, and the importance of conserving this important natural space. Summary: A funny, informative, heartwarming, sobering, and sometimes irritating tale of one man’s attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail.Ī Walk in the Woods follows Bryson and his faithful, if inconveniently out of shape, companion Stephen Katz as they make their way from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail. Genres: Humor, Nature Writing, Travel Writing, Non-Fiction A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail , by Bill Bryson
