“Worldly Matters”: essays on life, nature & outdoor skilz

Here’s a slim 75-page paperback of insightful, real-world reflections on the intersections of life and hiking, friends and tenting, work and the outdoors. The tales are set in getaway places in Vermont, places that are close to where the writer lives and works yet they’re special in that visiting them is like dropping off the map and that’s what the writer likes. Needs. Author Walt McLaughlin blends in a background of science and culture. I especially like how he worked Thoreau and Emerson into much of this. They are fitting trail companions as one hikes and ponders. He runs Wood Thrush Books where he publishes a variety of outdoor ruminations of his and others, including plenty more influence from Thoreau and Emerson. McLaughlin isn’t a famous guy but he writes clearly and is as good as anyone, with no glib or cutesy overreaching, which to me seems common in outdoor writers who’ve written for slick mags. I think that Walt has done such writing but he sticks to clarity and accuracy anyway.

https://www.woodthrushbooks.com/pg-wtbtitles.html