The best way I can explain it is that the narrator read the story in a way that parents read bedtime stories to very young children. How could the performance have been better? No such moments occurred as I listened to this rendition. The first time I read the book, I literally laughed so hard it hurt on several occassions. This is one of my favorite books of all times, but I found the reading so distractingly bad that I had to stop listening about half way through. What was one of the most memorable moments of A Walk in the Woods? The reading would have been much better with a lot less 'acting'.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you? The book itself just wasn’t my cup of tea. But the narrator was very good, so that’s something. This book was not like that, it made me feel on edge and kind of angry. I’ve read a bunch of trail memoirs (I like them okay) and the humble nature, optimism, and gratitude that characterizes the people involved in most of them is something I really enjoy. A good portion (maybe even fifty percent) of the book is very textbook-ish info about history of random towns along the trail and some criticism of the parks system and other such things that feel like a lot of filler to me. Besides all that, he doesn’t even finish the trail. he delights in and even brags about hurting the feelings of other hikers, calls almost everyone he comes into contact with fat or stupid, and has no concept of trail etiquette or culture. I can’t believe this book is so popular! Bryson is smarmy, negative, elitist, sexist, & pessimistic. If you’re into hiking at all or looking for a good trail memoir I don’t think this is for you.

A walk in the woods by bill bryson