A Walk in the Woods

"This ties in nicely to my last point: A Walk in the Woods is a book about keeping everything in perspective. Bill Bryson is an American who lived in England for 20 years and decided that he wanted to find a way to reconnect with America and get in shape. He came across the idea of walking the Appalachian Trail. Now the Appalachian Trail is one of the most gruelling hikes in the world. It’s about 2,300 miles, and goes up and down something like 50 5,000-feet peaks – it doesn’t go around them. Despite this, Bill Bryson produces this delightful self-effacing account of his journey, and it is laugh-out-loud funny on every page. It’s a reminder that it is easy to make pronouncements about what it is that we are going to do in life, and that it’s the follow-through that counts."