Francis Tapon

I learned from this book. and it held my interest such that I read it in one day ( and will go back to it again). Francis Tapon enumerates seven life lessons he learned during a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. As he says:

The AT taught me the Seven Principles on how to get the most out of life:

1. Hike Your Own Hike.
2. Beware of Summit Fever.
3. Hike with Passion.
4. Learn from Trail Lore.
5. Eat Well, Walk Hard, and Sleep Soundly.
6. Perform Trail Magic.
7. The Journey is Too Important to Take Seriously.

Each of these forms a chapter of the book and Tapon drills down into detail as to he means (and why) for each principle.
These were worth-while and I like the thoughts he expresses. For example, I think I am often guilty of Summit Fever, and I ought perform more Trail Magic. He has a deep knowledge of religion and philosophy, which is nicely interwoven in this book - I think the time on the trail gave him time to think through a lot of things - and express them in a coherent way.

On the negative side - I guess I would sum things up as sometimes this book is a little sappy. But the positive greatly outweighs the negative. I highly recommend this book.

PS - You can find more about this book (and some of Tapon's other adventures at http://francistapon.com/)… (mer)