Description

‘Short of doing it yourself, the best way of escaping into nature is to read a book like A Walk in the Woods.’ New York Times

In the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off to hike the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world.

Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing tics, the occasional chuckling murderer and – perhaps most alarming of all – people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack.

Facing savage weather, merciless insects, unreliable maps and a fickle companion whose profoundest wish was to go to a motel and watch The X-Files, Bryson gamely struggled through the wilderness to achieve a lifetime’s ambition – not to die outdoors.

A Walk in the Woods is now a major feature film starring Robert Redford, Emma Thompson and Nick Offerman.

Publisher Review

Choke-on-your-coffee funny * Washington Post * This is a seriously funny book -- Sue Townsend * The Sunday Times * Short of doing it yourself, the best way of escaping into nature is to read a book like A Walk in the Woods... Mr Bryson has met this challenge with zest and considerable humor... a funny book, full of dry humor... the reader is rarely anything but exhilarated * The New York Times * Entertaining and often illuminating -- Paul Johnson * Sunday Telegraph * Irreverent, wildly funny, crowded with anecdotes and observation * Ideal Home *