Introduction to "A Walk in the Woods"

"A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson, so far, has been an amazing book. It opens with an insightful description of the Appalachian Trail, the hike that the author would be attempting to conquer throughout the rest of the book. Bryson, an already acclaimed author for some of his other novels, describes how he felt an urge to conquer the longest trail in America just to say that he did it. The main reason I love this book so much is because it is not afraid to stray from crude humor, it is about an amazing, humorous journey through some of the most beautiful parts of America, and it does a very good job of incorporating facts about nature, the Appalachian Trail, hiking equipment, the history of the national park service, and so much more into the flowing story that rarely gets repetitive. Probably one of the best examples of this was when Bryson went to purchase his hiking equipment with his son, where Bryson, a novice hiker just wanting to save money, was blown away by the prices. Previously, he had been warned by his son, who had a job at the store, to not do anything inappropriate that could jeopardize his employment, especially saying the phrase, "Are you s******* me?" after an employee said the price of a tent or backpack or another equipment. This introduces the book more into how humorous and down-to-earth Bryson is, which makes him very easy to relate to. All in all, I personally love this book because I love nature a lot, so I can relate to Bryson's experience very well in the journeys that I have had, though not nearly as extreme. Hiking is one of my biggest passions, and this book gives me the same experience that I have while doing my own hikes while also giving me a lot of knowledge about random facts about interesting topics. This book has begun to inspire me to hike the Appalachian Trail myself, and hopefully this book will continue to inspire me to take strides in creating my own hiking experiences.

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