[at-l] A Walk in the Woods---

[dajones at isp.com (David A Jones)]

Bob C wrote:

>I'm sure a few nuts made nutty remarks. But I was there and it struck me as a pretty friendly to Bryson crowd. At least very few seemed to like my somewhat mild negative remarks. " a skillfully written book, that had almost nothing to do with the trail, or at least the trail I experienced."
>
>I think Bryson's refusal to show confirms my sense that he never really liked long distance hiking or long distance hikers. He avoided them on the trail, and he obviously didn't want to debate them at a meeting of long distance hikers and long distance wannabes.
>
>There are multiple fascinating people on the trail. AWITW missed them all. Bryson relied on a couple of imagined stereotypes -- a snorting female and a directionless male.
>
>Weary
>
>  
>
Well said.  I agree completely.

And there was that bit where a hiker wanted to show Bryson some trivial 
aspect of his gear.
Bryson treated him like he had leprosy.  And Katz berated his intelligence.
Bryson did a better job supporting a superior opinion in people who 
would never hike,
than convey a sense of what the hiking experience is about.
I think he could (and maybe did) make most of his book up from reading 
others accounts.
I wished he had contributed some genuine positive personal experience.