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Bryson is . . . great company right from the start—a lumbering, droll, neatnik intellectual who comes off as equal parts Garrison Keillor, Michael Kinsley, and . . . Dave Barry...[Readers] may find themselves turning the pages with increasing amusement and anticipation as they discover that they're in the hands of a satirist of the first rank who writes (and walks) with Chaucerian brio.
— The New York Times Book Review
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A terribly misguided and terribly funny tale of adventure...choke-on-your-coffee funny.
— The Washington Post Book World
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A Walk in the Woods is an almost perfect travel book.
— The Boston Globe
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The Appalachian Trail...consists of some five million steps, and Bryson manages to coax a laugh, and often an unexpectedly startling insight, out of every one he traverses...It is hard not to grin idiotically through all 304 pages...sheer comic entertainment.
— Kirkus Reviews
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“[Bryson is] great
company from the start—a lumbering, droll, neatnik intellectual who comes off
as equal parts Garrison Keillor, Michael Kinsley, and…Dave Barry…[He is] a
satirist of the first rank, who writes (and walks) with Chaucerian brio.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“The Appalachian
Trail…consists of some five million steps, and Bryson manages to coax a laugh,
and often an unexpectedly startling insight, out of every one he traverses…Sheer
comic entertainment.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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“This is a seriously
funny book…Bryson also writes most beautifully about the loveliness of the
forest and the mountains…[He is] a natural wonder.”
— Sunday Times (London)
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“Bill Bryson could
write an essay about dryer lint and fever reducers and still make us laugh out
loud.”
— Chicago Sun-Times
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“A Walk in the Woods is an almost perfect travel book.”
— Boston Globe
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“Engaging [and]
delightful.”
— Philadelphia Inquirer
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“If you were to cross
John Muir’s writing with Dave Barry’s, you’d end up with something along the
lines of…[A Walk in the Woods].”
— National Geographic Traveler
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“Nobody has written
anything like this book. It’s funny—so funny I was laughing out loud.”
— Providence Journal-Bulletin
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“Terribly misguided,
and a terribly funny tale of adventure…The yarn is choke-on your-coffee funny.”
— Washington Post
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“Yet another comic,
witty, gritty…piece of travel writing-cum-commentary by Bryson…Reading about the
AT, in Bryson’s droll, hyperbolic, information-stuffed style, will bring many
of his readers to a grateful, amused appreciation for his walk, his work, and
his wit.”
— Des Moines Register
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“A delightful and
enlightening account of the author’s attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail.”
— Salon
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“Bryson’s
truth-telling happens to be hilarious.”
— Los Angeles Times
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“A mix of tenderness,
humor, and an awakening environmental consciousness.”
— Miami Herald
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“Bill Bryson has
produced a book that has once again left me cackling out loud and grinning
until my jaw ached.”
— San Francisco Examiner
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“Bryson reaches a new
emotional plateau in his writing…A level of hilarity shot through with sad
understanding.”
— Dallas Morning News
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“Bryson is so wry and
discerning a tour guide, so lucid and companionable a lay naturalist, that the
sum is gleaned from the parts…[His] knowledge proves not only broad but
red-hot.”
— Houston Chronicle
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“A Walk in the Woods is a hilarious account of [Bryson’s] adventures
on the Appalachian Trail. It’s worth repeating that salient point: This book is so very funny.”
— Arizona Republic
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“A well-deserved
bestseller…It’s a great adventure, on a human scale, with survivable
discomforts, and happily, everybody goes home afterwards.”
— Times-Picayune
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“Bryson’s style,
humor, and narrative gifts elevate [it] well above the mere travelogue…[He]
takes history, observation, and traveler’s angst and weaves them together
seamlessly.”
— Lexington Herald-Leader
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“Bryson is a very
funny writer who could wring humor from a clammy sleeping bag.”
— Hartford Courant
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“Savor it a chapter
at a time—and read in public so passersby can wonder what could possibly be
causing you to laugh so hard.”
— Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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“[A Walk in the Woods] again shows off
[Bryson’s] skills of observation as well as his hilarious wit and is definitely
a keeper.”
— Chattanooga Free Press
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“Bryson’s book is a
marvelous description and history of the train and the mountains…[His] great
humor makes this a journey worth taking.”
— Booklist