'A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow': An American Hitchhiking Odyssey

by Tim Brookes

Release Date: 01 July, 2000

Edition: Hardcover

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Entertaining but did miss the spot at times

To summarise, an entertaining read over about 2 weeks worth of pre-sleep reading. As a fan of road-trip-esque books, I was looking forward to this jaunt around the country. Brooks has an entertaining style of writing that, for the most part, was clear and understandable. His research and fact-finding is a little ropey, naming Keystone, Wyoming as a chapter when in fact Keystone is in South Dakota for example.

Sure he didn't exactl hitch all the way but give the guy credit, he sure did hitch a lot of the way. If you can get past the errors, you'll be left with an enjoyable read.

Slow to Start - Difficult to Finish

I thought this book was about a hitchhiking experience, but was suprised to find the author taking buses or riding with his photographer from New York City into PA, then from Ohio well into Wyoming. I found his writing style to be rambling and uninteresting, and was unable to keep reading after 100 pages or so. Had he truly hitchhiked, and kept to stories about hitchhiking, he probably would have written a great book.