Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Fishermen everywhere will understand Gierach's quest to discover and explore new waters (and then not to divulge the best locations to anyone), the unlikely appeal of winter fly-fishing ("the ice fishing shanty served the dual purpose of group therapy and the neighborhood tavern"), how impossible it is to predict the best fishing ("Everything that happens is entirely familiar, but I don't always see it coming"), or even the absurdity of the entire exercise ("day after day, you're casting a fly that doesn't look like anything to fish that aren't hungry and may not even be there"). Braving trips on small prop planes and down "Oh-My-God" roads alike, Gierach and his fishing buddies pursue bull trout in British Columbia, steelhead in the Rocky Mountains, and pike so fierce that a wise fisherman wears Kevlar gloves for the obligatory trophy photo.

But as with any activity that depends on unspoiled wilderness, change is constant. Gierach sees this happening both in the landscape ("You never get to point at a meadow full of browsing mule deer and say, 'You know, all this was once condos.'") and at lodges that now require guests to sign liability waivers ("[I] had a brief vision of herds of lawyers coursing over the tundra in search of litigation"). Just the same, he is always awed by the experience of nature, or as he puts it: "You're on a lovely, remote wilderness river in the Alaskan backcountry. There are people who would make this trip and not even bring a fishing rod."

Musing on the enduring appeal of fishing, Gierach theorizes, "We're so used to the fake and the packaged that encountering something real can amount to a borderline religious experience." Equal parts fishing lore, philosophy, and great fish stories, Fool's Paradise may not be a perfect substitute for actually being out on the water, but it's surely the next best thing.

Average Customer Rating:

Fool not to buy	Customer Rating:
Once again Gierach knocks another one off. An amusing look at life and the pursuits of ones passion. I highly recommend Fool's Paradise.

Classic Gierach, Loved It.	Customer Rating:
The only fault I could find is it's too short. Classic Gearach book, True stories funny, warm, and..... well Gierach!

Good book	Customer Rating:
This is a well written book, but I have enjoyed some of his other books more than this one.

The Latest in a long line of good reading!	Customer Rating:
Gierach keeps pumping out the kind of material that takes you to the stream with him, but also challenges the reader to feel as deeply about the experience as he does. For any flyfisher who has a "...home river" or enjoys the challenge of new water, making new friends, or watching nature unfurl its majesty before your mind's eye, "Fool's Paradise" is a book you'll thoroughly enjoy.

Love John Gierach

Customer Rating:

This book is great. I love his writing style. The stories in this book are catchy and informative. However, I noticed most of the material comes from articles and excerpts from Fly Rod and Reel and I think other books. Not sure if it was all the chapters because I haven't kept up with his other publications. It would have been nice to read a book with chapters that haven't been published already. Regardless, still a quality book and a delight to read.