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| The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind-and Almost Found Myself-on the Pacific Crest Trail (P.S.) | 
 enlarge | Author: Dan White
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $7.50
You Save: $7.45 (50%)
New (49) Used (16) Collectible (1) from $6.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 16089
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0061376930
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.9
EAN: 9780061376931
ASIN: 0061376930
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: A Brand New Copy. Never Read. Buy with confidence from an Independent Bookstore where the owners, a husband and wife team, have over 25 years of combined bookselling experience.
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Product Description
The Pacific Crest Trail stretches from Mexico to Canada, a distance of 2,650 grueling, sun-scorched, bear-infested miles. When Dan White and his girlfriend announced their intention to hike it, Dan's parents—among others—thought they were nuts. How could two people who'd never even shared an apartment together survive six months in the desert with little more than a two-person tent and some trail mix? But when these addled adventurers, dubbed "the Lois and Clark Expedition" by their benevolent trail-guru, set out for the American wilderness, the hardships of the trail—and one delicious-looking cactus—test the limits of love and sanity.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 Cactus Eaters is sharp and tasty! June 24, 2008
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
I loved reading The Cactus Eaters because Dan White has written it using vivid, luscious and sometimes strange details. For the price of a few lattes, I traveled with White as he came upon one moment of truth after another, and got to see the consequences of his choices. Along with being a great travel narrative, White has crafted a funny, sad and beautiful true story - well told and timed. I particularly enjoyed the realness of this book - White did not sugar-coat things, even when his actions ended up being wrong or ill-thought through.
 Ordinary Joe on Extraordinary Trail June 21, 2008
10 out of 29 found this review helpful
While I've never been on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (I'm an accomplished hiker but mostly back east), the trail is surely so tremendous that it deserves to be highlighted in many more books. But this particular book would be better for readers looking for a slightly funny take on a guy's personal travails and hardships, rather than readers hoping to learn about all that the PCT has to offer. White did indeed complete the massive 2,650 miles of the PCT over two seasons, and in some areas he includes great descriptions of the scenery and hardships of the trail itself.
But much of the book is a rather tiresome "nonfiction narrative" (in White's description) of his own soul searching and quest to [...yawn...] find himself. Such self-aggrandizement via nature reflection is a played-out epidemic in the mainstream book trade. Even though White's origin as an ordinary non-hiker who decided to tackle the PCT in earnest is rather unusual, there is little to be learned from his personal travails. Much of White's journey is described via embarrassing personal details about himself and his girlfriend (who hiked most of the trail as well and later dumped him, with good reason), and his post-trek ennui and confusion are described with an annoying vibe of self-obsession, rather than the existential insight that other outdoorsy folks have articulated in more successful nature journals.
Another problem is that White describes fellow hikers and friendly trail assistants in largely unflattering ways, creating thin caricatures of fellow souls who at least added variety to his trek and may have even saved his life on several occasions. Granted, White is a fairly funny writer and he gains some occasional insights into the relations between regular pampered folks and the hardest realities of nature. But successful books of this type should healthily combine personal reflections with the amazing discoveries found on the trail to which the writer is trying to pay homage. This book just has too much writer and not enough trail. [~doomsdayer520~]
Great read! June 22, 2008
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
If you're looking for a guide to the Pacific Crest Trail - this isn't that kind of book. BUT, if you're looking for an extremely well-written, hard-to-put-down, hysterically funny account of a very personal 2,650 mile journey - Cactus Eaters is for you!
I strongly disagree with the reviewer who tagged this book a yawn-inducing personal narrative with too little emphasis on The Trail itself. I've done a long distance hike (Appalachian Trail) and, to be honest, a description of the *actual* trail experience has HUGE potential to be quite tedious. You walk a lot. Body parts hurt. Your gear fails you. If you're inexperienced, you make stupid mistakes. If you're experienced, you make well-educated ones. There lots of trees and the occasional animal. Other hikers can either entertain or irritate you.
It's what happens to a person in the face of all these things that transforms the experience into a real journey and Dan White does an amazing job of bringing the reader along on his.
I was so taken by Cactus Eaters that I dusted off my backpack and hit the trail for a few days after reading it. Can't recommend it enough :)
Just couldn't put it down June 27, 2008
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
I heard Dan on a local radio show describe his adventures/misadventures, telling how he set off to hike the PCT with very little experience and lots of ideals. Based on that, I had to get the book.
I really enjoyed the book - a believable narrative of someone who may have bitten off more than he could chew. The characters he meets on his travels ring true; they run the gamut of helpful, to weird to downright bizarre. I had to keep reading until the end so I could see how everything turned out.
When I was younger, I often wanted to through hike the Appalachian Trail, but I have a feeling that this is how it would have turned out if I did!
Dan White seems to have found the same narrative style as Bill Bryson (In a Sunburned Country and A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail), a mix of laughter, adventure and "Oh my God!".
This book is certainly not a guide book for the PCT, but it is a very enjoyable read for adventurers and for couch potatoes. I had initially purchased an electronic version of this book for me, but I liked it so much, I went back an purchased a print copy for my husband.
Great read! June 22, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book is a great read! Funny and fun, honest and insightful . . . it transcends "travel book," while having all that genre has to offer, a wonderfully descriptive sense of the Pacific Crest Trail, the flora and fauna lovingly described (and, in the case of the cacus, eaten!), a true and shimmering sense of the landscape, that is both barren and beautiful, always haunting . . . But it's also a story of one man's personal journey, into his own occasionally deranged mind and overheated soul, that is so frank and engaging and so very human, as it also explores the nature of relationships as well as the nature of nature itself.
This is a terrific book, and it would make a really good movie!
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