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Location: Home » Mental Depression Books » Depression » The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind-and Almost Found Myself-on the Pacific Crest Trail (P.S.)

January 9, 2009

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The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind-and Almost Found Myself-on the Pacific Crest Trail (P.S.)

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Author: Dan White
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$14.95~~
Buy New: $3.92
You Save: $11.03 (74%)
Buy New/Used from $3.92

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

(31 reviews)
Sales Rank: 64866

Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
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
Release Date: May 20, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 26-30 of 31

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Great read! June 22, 2008
8 out of 9 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!

5 out of 5 stars

Great read! June 22, 2008
7 out of 7 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 :)

5 out of 5 stars

A Laugh-Out-Loud Page Turner June 22, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Dan White has a way with words. In the first three lines of this book, he draws the reader in with his uncanny descriptions ("I suck my tongue. I lick my hot teeth") his metaphors, his ability to all at once keep the reader laughing and keep the reader sympathetic. Reading this book is like watching a completely engrossing movie. You are taken out of your life and into the hot, dry, crackling desert. When something draws you out, you long to get back in, back to the PCT, back to Dan and Allison and the cast of bizarre characters they meet along the way in this story. Dan is a perfect guide: sensitive, funny, smart, and not a little self-deprecating. In a word: awesome. This book begs to be read out loud to friends.

3 out of 5 stars

Ordinary Joe on Extraordinary Trail June 21, 2008
11 out of 25 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~]

5 out of 5 stars

funny and authentic May 29, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful

I received my copy of "The Cactus Eaters" Saturday and finished it Sunday afternoon, laughing all the way through to the rather sobering finish. This guy is exceptionally talented. His tale shows what a personal experience a long distance hike is, how intense it can be when shared with another person, and how weird it is when the sharing ends before the trail does. I loved it.
Palomino
San Juan Bautista, CA

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