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Andrew Skurka

Backpacking guide, writer and endurance athlete who has hiked 30,000+ miles; author of The Ultimate Hiker's Gear Guide.

5 books on the record · 6 Feb 2020 – 11 Aug 2021 · @andrewskurka

The bar next to each date shows how long ago it was said: 6d is days, 4yr is years.

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From the River to the Sea by John Sedgewick

Sedgewick was more successful in developing his characters, and I also appreciated that he took regular tangents into other related and interesting matters like the Leadville mining boom, the growth of Los Angeles, and the business maneuvers of other railroad barons like Jay Gould and Collis Huntington.

on andrewskurka.com · 11 Aug 2021

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The Adventurer's Son by Roman Dial

Roman Dial is a master storyteller, and I've long awaited for a definitive book about these larger-than-life characters and only-in-Alaska events. But Roman's best lifetime work will probably stand as The Adventurer's Son, a story that he never would have wanted to write but that is more heartfelt, personal, and relevant than a book full of true but unbelievable tales.

on andrewskurka.com · 25 Feb 2020

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Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner

Similarly, if you're intrigued by Powell's Report on the Lands of the Arid Region, then pick up Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner, which is the definitive history of water in the West.

on andrewskurka.com · 6 Feb 2020

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Dreams of El Dorado by H. W. Brands

My wife Amanda is the real reader in our house, and last month she came home from the library with Dreams of El Dorado: A history of the American West, by H. W. Brands. I moved quickly through its 480 pages (with an occasional photo), and thought it was one of my more enjoyable recent reads.

on andrewskurka.com · 6 Feb 2020

Everything Andrew Skurka recommends — not just books — on rcmnd →

That little bar

It says how long ago something was said, so you can tell last month from 2014 without doing the arithmetic. Full and green is recent; it drains and cools as the date gets older, and empties completely at about 6 years.

A striped bar means the date itself is an estimate — the source did not carry an exact one. An entry with no date at all gets no bar.