Pretty much anything by Bill Bryson, but I fell in love with him while reading <em>A Walk in the Woods</em>.
That's awesome! I'm hoping I have a chance in my life to make such an adventure (not about to up and leave my young kids and wife just yet).
For an interesting read about the Trail, take a look at this book. The first half was particularly great.
A Short History is an amazing book. If you enjoy Bryson, I would highly recommend A Walk In The Woods.
Give this book a read
http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464
It might bring you some happiness, and maybe some motivation to go hike the Appalachian trail. Focus on your dog as much as you can, he's one of the most unconditional loves you'll ever get.
Hope everything goes well for you
I recommend reading this before you go. One of the funniest books I've ever read.
Thanks so much for the response. Most of what I know about the A.T. comes from the book "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson and time spent with my Dad on the trails in Pennsylvania. I'm graduating college soon and it's a mission of my to at least do some large sections of the trail. I hope to find experiences as good as yours!
This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but if you end up finding something for $92 or less, throw in a copy of A Walk in the Woods.
Good call on Bryson. A Walk in the Woods is another great Bryson book about travel - hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Favorite song: I'm a cloud by Boy hits car
Favorite book: A walk in the woods by bill bryson
Favorite movie: Braveheart
Favorite game: Phase10
OK, others digressed slightly so I will too. A couple of really good books that I've read recently (and I liked "The Road" too)
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail - Bil Bryson
Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
Not post-apocalyptic in any way, but a good journey nonetheless.
Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and Cliff Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg are pretty good sub-12 hour reads. Also, I'm not much into history, but I found some interesting mythical/historical tie-ins with some cyberpunk works by Stephenson, namely Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon. If you keep in mind that Snow Crash is meant to be a sort of tongue-in-cheek critique of all those science fiction near-future works that take themselves far too seriously, it is an awesome read with tons of very memorable imagery and some really weird characters.
Like a samurai pizza delivery guy (whose last name is Protagonist...) and a towering Aleut serial killer who rides a motorcycle with a nuke strapped into the sidecar... yeah. It's good though.
Have you read this book? If so, how does your experience compare to Bryson's depiction of the AT?
...just finished reading and considered doing a shortened 1-2 week expedition.