false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256077237m/1658951.jpg 1658951 2 If John Gierach is living in a fool's paradise, then it's a paradise that his regular readers will recognize and new fans will delight in discovering. Laced with the inimitable blend of wit and wisdom that have made him fly-fishing's foremost scribe, <I>Fool's Paradise</i> chronicles the fishing life in all its glory (catching your biggest fish ever) and squalor (being stranded in a tent during a soaking rainstorm). In Gierach's world, both experiences are valuable, and both evoke humor and insight.<P>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.<P>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."<P>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, <I>Fool's Paradise</i> may not be a perfect substitute for actually being out on the water, but it's surely the next best thing. 1653679 6 5 2008 Fool's Paradise total:33|5:10|4:17|3:6|2:0|1:0| 33 136 49 9 4 1 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 16 08:23:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 16 08:25:01 -0700 2008 TroutUnderground.com)

“I don’t have any illusions of permanence… It’s just that I can live with any number of things going straight to hell as long as these streams continue to hold up. If this amounts to living in a Fool’s Paradise, don’t was...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Nov 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 18 05:18:49 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 05 08:07:42 -0800 2008 1
I don't feel this way because I think Gierach has some sort of 'holier than though'...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 06:04:32 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 19 12:34:02 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jan 10 14:50:03 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 14:50:43 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jul 10 19:00:56 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 19:01:38 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat May 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 20:06:36 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 20:15:07 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Mon Sep 15 10:34:27 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 15 10:35:55 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Mon Jul 14 15:34:05 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 14 15:34:52 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Sat Nov 15 06:40:00 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 15 06:40:59 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Mon Nov 16 14:47:02 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 14:47:06 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Sep 03 08:15:27 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 03 08:15:27 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Aug 12 20:00:47 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 20:00:47 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Aug 11 07:29:07 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 07:29:07 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jul 25 17:41:08 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 17:41:27 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 19 23:13:31 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 23:13:31 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Jul 11 20:25:22 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 20:25:22 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jul 09 21:45:24 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 21:45:24 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 05 15:35:51 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 15:35:51 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jun 16 12:33:34 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 16 12:33:34 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jun 15 05:49:02 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 05:49:02 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1658951