The Man Who Walked Through Time: The Story of the First Trip Afoot Through the Grand Canyon Paperback – Illustrated, 14 May 1989

Brought as a present for my father who loved it.,

An excellent and inspiring walk

When I saw this travel book had no pictures, I thought it was unusual. Having read it I completely understand why not. This is a cracking philosophical muse, a rambling mind focused by the serenity and majesty of nature.He encounters, beaver, small horses, and snakes, walks unfettered by clothing, and sees the rock strata as the layers of time, as he explores the Grand Canyon and ponders on life and nature.A fabulously engaging approach which had me hooked from the first page and wanting to read more of his works by the end.One particularly poignant observation is: "When a man despoils a work of art we call him a vandal, when he despoils a work of nature we call him a developer."Fab stuff.

A really enjoyable read. A great story. The only negative comment I have is that the book lacked photos. Some photos would certainly have added value. Bought this after reading Colin fletcher biography -Walking Man.

Colin Fletcher immerses himself in the landscapes of the Grand Canyon in this first ever backpacking trip along its length. He becomes absorbed by his surroundings and describes his experiences beautifully. If you are a lover of wilderness, landscape, geology, wildlife, adventure, soul searching, or the written word I can heartily recommend this book to you. For me it was the best example of outdoors literature that I've read, and it has lingered long in my memory, which is why I write this, my first ever review. It is as relevant today as when it was first written.

I purchased this book for my husband who tells me it is well worth reading and deserves the five stars.

Not my best book but could be inspirational

Voilà un très bon livre qui allie description de la traversée du grand canyon à pied avec des réflexions personnelles sur ce qu'éveille ces lieux extraordinaires chez l'auteur. Ce livre va ainsi plus loin que la plupart des récits d'expédition ou de randonnée.

I discovered Fletcher in 1975 when I worked in a backpacking shop as a high school kid. I read "The New Complete Walker". It was so good that I tracked down "The Man Who Walked Through Time". The book had a huge impact on me.Fletchers writing about his solo travels is unpolluted by ego, fluff or anything else that's worthless. He brings the small but essential experiences into sharp focus with his careful descriptions. A literary critic might have a different view, but as a guy who loves to haul a pack around in lonely and beautiful places, I cant say enough about Fletchers writing.One of the aspects of this book I dearly love, is that its from a time before the big companies infected the culture of backpacking with the neurotic focus on equipment. Today, too many people focus on gear rather than the experience. Reading backpacking magazines like Outdoor...is sickening to me...its nothing but a ad rag. All hype, fashion and status. Fletcher shares what its like to simply go explore wild places on your own - with no consideration of statistics, competition or...obsession with hyped up equipment. Backpacking is a form of travel that should be inexpensive and in reach of nearly everyone...rather than the over-priced, materialistic BS that Outside and other magazines have turned it into.This is a great book - worth the price and time to read it.

I am generally bored with nature writing and travel accounts, but in this case when the nature writing is wrapped with the story of the incredible adventure of hiking the Grand Canyon, it comes alive and draws me in. The book is structured as a detailed narrative of the trip with a lot of introspection about his reactions along the way. As he settles into the rhythms of backpacking and the Canyon, his musings get more profound but never overwhelming and always nicely grounded in the gritty details of the journey and the surroundings. There are similarities with "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," but this book doesn't jump around in time and it never turns into a philosophy lecture, which is my biggest complaint about "Zen."I also admire the writing. The author is not at the Annie Dillard level of wordsmithing, but I think his writing is much better than the average travel adventure writer can manage and the author is equally comfortable with mundane physical details and grand abstractions.I rarely read books more than once, but I've read this through closely twice in two or three years and I hope to at least dip into it again. I'm definitely more motivated to revisit the Grand Canyon, which I've visited twice but only superficially.Although Amazon calls this "unknown binding," I got a hardback when I ordered from a third-party seller. It would probably be a good idea to check with your seller before ordering. The full title includes a subtitle about "photographs by the author." The later paperback editions do not have photos and they do have updates about development threats to the Grand Canyon and the effects of damming the river. I read a paperback edition first and later bought the old hardback version. I had a hard time visualizing the landscape, and I found it comforting that the photos were reasonably close to what I had envisioned. The hardback has a larger foldout map that is much easier to read than the map in the paperback.

This is a very interesting tale of a walk through the Grand Canyon in 1963. The perspective is dated in many ways, but much of it is timeless. The hiking challenges were very interesting to me as well as his disruption of the surroundings. He lost me a little in the spiritual talk of being one with the beaver etc., but that was still interesting keeping in mind the perspective.

Thius is a fascinating book, as much for the insight into the man as for the account of the journey. A bit wordy at times but well worth the effort.