Re [at-l] Picking on Bill and other stuff at-l

[saunterer@jimbullard.org (saunterer@jimbullard.org)]

At 09:36 PM 3/26/02 -0500, Dennis Gass wrote:
>Would Bryson have brought Katz along if he didn't need him as a
>character in the book?  Only he knows.  Is there reasonable doubt that
>he would bring Katz along if he were going to hike some of the AT and
>not write a book?  There is in my mind.  Someone that doesn't have
>experience setting out to do something foreign to them might just want a
>friend along, experienced or not.

He said he wanted someone to go along and couldn't get anyone else.  That's 
believable.

>Debating whether or not the book was good or not might best be done by
>asking ourselves just how many books were sold?  Whether or not he
>pissed me off by putting my name in the book (he didn't, but I know
>someone he did) and making remarks I felt were inaccurate about me
>doesn't make him successful or unsuccessful in his mission.  I would be
>willing to bet his mission was to sell books, and that would have to be
>called a successful mission no matter how many blue or yellow blazes
>were used or white blazes skipped.

Given that he makes his living as an author, it not hard to guess that he 
wanted to sell books.  Why all the fuss?  I know, some authors of AT 
Journals are PO'd that he sold way more books than they did.  Again, no 
surprise.  He's an experienced author writing for the mass market.  He 
never claimed to be writing a thru-hiking journal.  It's a funny book about 
a walk in the woods on the AT.  That's all it is.

sAunTerer