Walks of a Lifetime–book review

[Paul Wagner]

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<div>Full disclosure:  A very nice PR person sent us a copy of this book to review, and we promised that we’d review it.</div>
<span style=”font-size: medium;”>When we get a chance to look over a book like “Walks of a Lifetime” by Robert and Martha Manning, the first thing we do is check the list of walks.    If the list doesn’t include things like the John Muir Trail, the Inka Trail to Machu Picchu, The Milford Track, and the Camino de Santiago, how good can it be? </span>

<span style=”font-size: medium;”>Oops.  This is their second book about long walks.  Doh.  Their first book, “Walking Distance,” included all of those plus a bunch more that we really liked.  This one picks where “Walking Distance” leaves off, and takes us on a whole range of hikes from the wilderness of Denali to the streets of Paris, New York, Sydney and San Francisco.  </span>

<span style=”font-size: medium;”>So let’s start again.  The Mannings have a really nice approach to this whole topic of walking.  They like it.  They are not after epic adventures  on the edge that test them to their limits, and they admit it.  These walks are supposed to be enjoyable, and they do a good job of communicating the real attractions of every walk in the book.  But this isn’t a mile-by-mile guide.  You won’t want to take it along on these hikes.  For on thing, it’s too heavy :^)</span>

<span style=”font-size: medium;”>Nope, this is a menu: designed to make every dish seem interesting enough that you want to order it.  And it’s completely successful at that.  In each case the Mannings give you enough detail to get you started, and point out a few things they don’t want you to miss.  And then they tell you to go do the hike yourself.  We like that approach.   There are enough details to allow you to find the place, and enough flexibility to encourage you to hike your own hike, whether you are a twenty-something peak bagger or a golden years stroller.  </span>

<span style=”font-size: medium;”>In between the chapters, they offer their comments on everything from leaving no trace to the philosophy of seeing the world from a pedestrian perspective.  And their approach to these is particularly brilliant.  By that we mean that they agree with our approach completely.  Thus, they must be geniuses.  Best of all, they can write.  Their sentences are clear, clean, and well-crafted.  In fact, the whole book reads like a very pleasant conversation around a campfire (or in a pub?) with a couple of well-educated and thoughtful people who love to hike.  Sign us up! </span>

<span style=”font-size: medium;”>The photographs are in a similar vein.  These are not gloriously staged professional shots done under perfect conditions and lighting.  They are photos taken by Robert on the walks as they did them.  So while the photos won’t wow you with special effects, they probably give you a much more realistic view of what you are doing to see on the hike than some of the coffee table books we’ve seen.  And they are nice photos.</span>

<span style=”font-size: medium;”>We were particularly happy to see a few hikes from the American Southwest–an  area we are hoping to explore in a lot more detail next year.  Now we have a few more items on our list, thanks to the Mannings. </span>

<span style=”font-size: medium;”>Would we buy this book if we saw it in a bookstore?  Probably not.  We’re cheapskates, and we’d probably just leaf through it and then make a mental note to check if the library has a copy.  But if someone in our family gave it to us as a gift, we’d be delighted.  And we’d go back to it more than once as we think about the adventures we’d like to have in the future, and relive some of the ones in our past. </span>

<span style=”font-size: medium;”>We suspect that’s exactly what the Mannings had in mind when they wrote it. </span>

<span style=”font-size: medium;”>”Walks of a Lifetime” by Robert and Martha Manning, Falcon Press.  $35.</span>

[Ken Thompson]

Don’t you wish you could edit? You should try the sacrificial first post method when creating these longer posts. Just my $.02

Link to their site

http://extraordinaryhikes.com

[Paul Wagner]

I do wish I could edit posts.  This only happens when I write something in MSWord and then cut and paste it.  Very Frustrating…

[Roger Caffin]

The cure is amazingly simple.
DO NOT COPY FROM MS-WORD! Or from another web site.

This Forum assumes and enforces a very plain-text approach. Notepad is fine.

Cheers

[Edward John M]

Any relation to Harvey Manning? the feller who wrote many books on the outdoors in the 60′ to 80s period??

[BlackHatGuy]

“This only happens when I write something in MSWord and then cut and paste it.  Very Frustrating…”

@balzaccom – Paul, whenever cutting and pasting on this site, always use the ‘TEXT’ tab, upper right of input box. That will show you if you have any formatting language mixed in with your words. It might even strip some/all out if you do it this way, not sure about that.

[Nick Gatel]

The cure is amazingly simple.
DO NOT COPY FROM MS-WORD! Or from another web site.

What? That is taking technology backwards to the stone age. I’ll have to go out to the garage and find my stone and chisel.

You want us to re-type all this stuff into BPL, use some obsolete program like Note Pad, or go to the BPL post’s text tab and strip all the formatting code?

OF COURSE NOT!

You can easily cut and paste with MS Word or just about any word processor and paste it into your BPL post without the original formatting. Easy-Peasy. 6 steps on a PC, 3 steps on a Mac. And of course, there are other methods. I use these because I memorized the keystrokes over 30 years ago… and it wasn’t really memorization, it was learning by repeition.

Using a Windows PC

Once you are finished composing the post on your PC…

1. CTRL + A to select all the text.
2. CTRL + X to cut all the text. Your document will be blank.
3. Right Click on the document, select Paste Special, select Unicode text. The document will now have “plain text” with no formatting.
4. CTRL + A to select all the text again.
5. CTRL + C to copy the text.
6. Use CTRL + V to paste in your BPL post.

Takes about 5 seconds.

These keystrokes work on most computer programs, and have been pretty universal since the 1980’s. It was a feature in WordStar and WordPerfect back in the early days of personal computers. Even worked on my Commodore 64. Some early programs allowed you to paste plain text with CTRL + P.

Now for the really, really good news…

If you have a Mac using OS X it is even easier!! These instructions also work with copying stuff from websites and only requires 3 keystrokes.

1. Command + A to select all the text in your Word Document, or select the text you want to copy from a Website or other program using your mouse or track pad.
2. Command + C to copy the text.
3. Go to your post and paste your work using Shift + Option + Command + V. You have now pasted “plain text” into the post.

<sigh> I had to edit this post because if I use the “Underline” button in the Visual tab menu, it doesn’t underline, but just inserts the formatting code.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Nick

Yes, of course you can do that from Word. But you have to remember the right sequence of key strokes. OK, you can.

Cheers

[Ken Thompson]

Doug has the answer for those running a tablet or other modern device.

Apologies to the OP for the destruction of his thread.

Roger, Roger, Roger, tsk tsk.

[Paul Wagner]

I don’t mind the hijacking….if I can just remember to select Unicode….

I would still love to be able to edit posts, as I am sure others would as well.

[Kevin]

“Ctrl + Shift + V” will paste without formatting in some browsers (works with Firefox and Chrome, not sure about others).

[Nick Gatel]

I would still love to be able to edit posts, as I am sure others would as well.

That is the crux of the matter.

I apologize for being the biggest hijacker in this thread. But the darn formatting issue ruined your post, and you cannot edit it.

 

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