3rd on the Non-fiction Best Sellers list

[SCRUB HIKER]

I would never take a dim view of people being introduced to backpacking by this book--you've got to get the idea from somewhere, right? I tell everybody that A Walk in the Woods is what gave me the idea to do the AT, and Bill Bryson was not exactly a textbook thru-hiker either (thanks to Baltimore Jack, the word "candy-ass" gets thrown about a lot when referring to him). But my point is that you can't just read Wild, think "Oh that sounds so much like me! I'm going to fix all my problems on the PCT this summer too!" and go out there without much other information about hiking. Well, you can, but you'd be in for a miserable time.

Again, I don't know if appreciable numbers of people are going to do that. But given how enormously popular this book is (it reached #1 overall on the bestseller list last July and is still hovering at #5 for nonfiction), and how it has such a convenient message of self-help and redemption, I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of people out there who prepared for their hike almost entirely by reading Wild.

[BrianLe]

It would be interesting IMO to see what SoCal Trail angels notice --- particularly the Mann's and Saufley's. Might be fun if they got together to compare notes about particular Wild-inspired hikers and see how they've progressed (the subset still on trail) by Agua Dulce. I could see THAT being turned into an interesting book, or at least an interesting article in the 'PCT Communicator'.

'Wild' itself --- meh. Girl's life is not going so well, she jumps on trail with no meaningful preparation, has a lot of challenges mostly due to her lack of foresight/prep/experience. She doesn't finish the trail, and overdramatizes the experiences. For whatever reason, she's lucky enough to have her book blessed by Oprah. What part of that is supposed to appeal?

[lemon b]

I enjoyed the book. It was certainly different from the typical read.

[double d]

congrats on the success of the book! That is great news! I need to buy it, but I've heard great things about the book.

[Mags]

The target audience loves the book..and that's all you need.

Affluent and/or well educated women early-mid 30s to mid 50s.

Not by coincidence, a good demographic if you want to sell stuff.

[aficion]

Affluent and/or well educated women early-mid 30s to mid 50s.

Not by coincidence, a good demographic if you want to sell stuff. [/QUOTE]

Or your soul.

[Train Wreck]

Affluent and/or well educated women early-mid 30s to mid 50s.

Not by coincidence, a good demographic if you want to sell stuff.

Or your soul.[/QUOTE]

Hey now!
......

[aficion]

Or your soul.

Hey now!
......[/QUOTE]

"I'm a-thinking and a-wond'rin' walking down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
Don't think twice, it's all right."

Bob Dylan

[Train Wreck]

Hey now!
......

"I'm a-thinking and a-wond'rin' walking down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
Don't think twice, it's all right."

Bob Dylan[/QUOTE]

Sounds like you need to write a book as well

[aficion]

"I'm a-thinking and a-wond'rin' walking down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
Don't think twice, it's all right."

Bob Dylan

Sounds like you need to write a book as well [/QUOTE]

Nobody would believe it, if I did.

[Train Wreck]

Sounds like you need to write a book as well

Nobody would believe it, if I did.[/QUOTE]

Be sure to put some vampires in it to guarantee good sales!

[finish9]

Excellent book, worth the read. Some parts I didn't care for but still I would recommend (adult only).

[Spirit Walker]

I'm in the minority, I guess. I didn't like the book at all, probably because I didn't much like her. I gave up about 50 pages in.

[Mags]

I read the book and did not care for it too much. Just not my style. I give it a "C"

[BrianLe]

It would be interesting to survey folks who have completed a PCT thru-hike and see how they like it as a group. I guess you could do that at ADZPCTKO --- I live too far away so am not there now, but still --- would be an interesting question. My "wild" guess is that the average rating among that set of people would be lower (and perhaps significantly lower) than for the population at large.
(I do recognize that's not the target audience she was writing for)

[Mags]

Oddly enough, the "Other" hiking book (A Walk in the Woods) is one I enjoy.

In Wild's case my sense of underwhelming had nothing to do with Wild not being a thru-hiking book. Rather, Wild is a Lifetime Channel movie in book form. As a male in my late 30s, I am obviously not the target audience for Lifetime OR Wild.

AWITW I thought was a delightful, lighthearted travelogue that just happened to take place on the AT. AS I always say, a good airport book.

I read both books after my thru-hikes. The former book was obviously written for a group much different than me whereas the latter one appealed to my own snarky sense of humor.

My friend's wife OTOH hand LOVED Wild. She's "outdoorsy" to boot.

So it goes.

[Luddite]

The target audience loves the book..and that's all you need.

Affluent and/or well educated women early-mid 30s to mid 50s.

Not by coincidence, a good demographic if you want to sell stuff.

I'm a male in my 20s and liked the book. I never thought I'd ever read a book that is in Oprah's book club 2.0, but it was well written and I think it's a great story. It's one of 2 hiking related books I like.

[Mags]

I'm a male in my 20s and liked the book. I never thought I'd ever read a book that is in Oprah's book club 2.0, but it was well written and I think it's a great story. It's one of 2 hiking related books I like.

That's nice. But the overall demographic is still overwhelmingly female 30s-50s..aka Oprah's demographic.

I love to bake..does not mean most men do.

[sbhikes]

I'm in the demographic. I thought the book was okay. I liked the part where she's interviewed for the Hobo Times. I had nearly the same conversation with my boyfriend (who didn't hike with me) when I got home. He accused me of being a hobo and I said no I'm not, yes you are, no I'm not, yes you are...

The thing I don't like about the book the most is that EVERYBODY I know or meet asks me if I read it and I always feel compelled to tell them that I did hike the trail but I did NOT have any of the same experiences on the trail that she did. I didn't do any of that stuff.

[Train Wreck]

I'm also right smack dab in the demographic. I liked the "Wild" book but I loved A Walk in the Woods much more. Not sure exactly where that leaves me in the bell curve