Fool's Paradise

Fool's Paradise
by John Gierach

Fool's Paradise
List Price: $24.00
Our Price: $7.05
You Save: $16.95 (71%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: John Gierach
Illustrator: Glen Wolff
Edition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-05-06
ISBN: 0743291735
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Book Reviews of Fool's Paradise

Book Review: Good book
Summary: 4 Stars

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

Summary of Fool's Paradise

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, Fool's Paradise 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.

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.

General Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in General Books
Trout Flies for the 21st Century: Over 200 Essential Patterns That Catch Fish Anywhere, Anytime (Fly Tyer) ImageTrout Flies for the 21st Century: Over 200 Essential Patterns That Catch Fish Anywhere, Anytime (Fly Tyer)
by Dick Talleur
The Lyons Press; Published: 2008-06-01; Spiral-bound; Book
Best price: $16.01
Price in other shops: $24.95
Sex, Death and Fly Fishing ImageSex, Death and Fly Fishing
by John Gierach
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1990-08-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.96
Price in other shops: $13.00
Backcast: Fatherhood, Fly-fishing, and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska ImageBackcast: Fatherhood, Fly-fishing, and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska
by Lou Ureneck
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2007-09-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops: $24.95
IGFA's 101 Freshwater Fishing Tips & Tricks ImageIGFA's 101 Freshwater Fishing Tips & Tricks
by Bill Dance
Skyhorse Publishing; Published: 2007-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.43
Price in other shops: $12.95
Fishing Tandem Flies: Tactics, Techniques, and Rigs to Catch More Trout ImageFishing Tandem Flies: Tactics, Techniques, and Rigs to Catch More Trout
by Charles Meck
Headwater Books; Published: 2007-09-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.12
Price in other shops: $16.95
Trout Rigs & Methods: What You Need to Know to Construct Rigs that Work for All Types of Trout Flies & the Most Effective Fishing Methods for Catching More & Larger Trout ImageTrout Rigs & Methods: What You Need to Know to Construct Rigs that Work for All Types of Trout Flies & the Most Effective Fishing Methods for Catching More & Larger Trout
by Dave Hughes
Stackpole Books; Published: 2007-01-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.71
Price in other shops: $19.95
LaFontaine's Legacy: The Last Flies from an American Master (Fly Tyer Books) ImageLaFontaine's Legacy: The Last Flies from an American Master (Fly Tyer Books)
by Al Beatty
The Lyons Press; Published: 2008-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.39
Price in other shops: $27.95
Essential Trout Flies ImageEssential Trout Flies
by Dave Hughes
Stackpole Books; Published: 2000-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops: $21.95
Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die ImageFifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die
by Chris Santella
Stewart, Tabori and Chang; Published: 2004-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.90
Price in other shops: $24.95
Fool's Paradise ImageFool's Paradise
by John Gierach
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2008-05-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.07
Price in other shops: $24.00
Similar Books and other products
The Fly Fishing Anthology ImageThe Fly Fishing Anthology
Voyageur Press; Published: 2004-09-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.11
Price in other shops: $35.00
Still Life with Brook Trout ImageStill Life with Brook Trout
by John Gierach
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2006-03-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops: $13.00
At the Grave of the Unknown Fisherman ImageAt the Grave of the Unknown Fisherman
by John Gierach
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2004-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.35
Price in other shops: $13.00
Standing in a River Waving a Stick ImageStanding in a River Waving a Stick
by John Gierach
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2000-04-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.31
Price in other shops: $14.00
Trout Eyes: True Tales of Adventure, Travel, and Fly-Fishing ImageTrout Eyes: True Tales of Adventure, Travel, and Fly-Fishing
by William G. Tapply
Skyhorse Publishing; Published: 2007-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.01
Price in other shops: $24.95
Good Flies: Favorite Trout Patterns and How They Got That Way ImageGood Flies: Favorite Trout Patterns and How They Got That Way
by John Gierach
The Lyons Press; Published: 2007-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops: $14.95
Trout Bum ImageTrout Bum
by John Gierach
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1988-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops: $13.00
The Habit of Rivers: Reflections on Trout Streams and Fly Fishing ImageThe Habit of Rivers: Reflections on Trout Streams and Fly Fishing
by Ted Leeson
The Lyons Press; Published: 2006-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.95
Price in other shops: $14.95
Where the Trout Are All as Long as Your Leg ImageWhere the Trout Are All as Long as Your Leg
by John Gierach
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1993-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.62
Price in other shops: $12.00
Fishing Bamboo: An Angler's Passion for the Traditional Fly Rod ImageFishing Bamboo: An Angler's Passion for the Traditional Fly Rod
by John Gierach
The Lyons Press; Published: 2007-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops: $14.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories