Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers

"What Gierach actually writes about is life, as seen through the eyes of a guy who spends a lot of his time with a fly rod in hand" 

- The Plain Dealer

Description

"In Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers, John Gierach recalls his early experience moving to Colorado and buying his first resident fishing license. He asked when the fishing season opened, only to be told that it never actually ends; he could fish as log as he could stand to be outside. That, he says, is when he knew he had moved to the right place.

Fly-fishers of all stripes will understand perfectly - but Gierach writes so winningly about the joys and tribulations of the fly-fishing life that even people who don't fish will enjoy this newest collection of essays from 'America's best fishing writer' (Houston Chronicle). 

Gierach's sharp wit and self-deprecating sense of humor have earned him comparisons to Mark Twain and James Thurner, while his love of fishing merits comparisons to Norman Maclean and Ernest Hemingway. After more than twenty books he has never lost touch with the fun and frustration every fisherman experiences, which is why the Wall Street Journal hailed him as 'the voice of the common angler.' But as his fans know, 'What Gierach actually writes about is life, as seen through the eyes of a guy who spend a lot of his with a fly rod in hand' (The Plain Dealer).

Gierach succinctly sums up the appeal of fly-fishing as 'an acquired taste that reintroduces the chaos of uncertainty back into our well-regulated lives.' Or, to put it a little differently, fly-fishing may not be the perfect antidote to what is wrong with our world, but then again, what is?" 

Praise for Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers: 

"From the zen of aging to the tao of tying flies, from the palm-size brook trout to leg-length muskies, Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers is the best yet from fly-fishing's favorite cosmic uncle." 

- James R Babb, author of Fish Won't Let Me Sleep

"John Gierach is an original, which is why each new book is welcomed by so many anglers as joyously required reading. Pardon the inter-disciplinary reach, but Gierach's stories are rather like McCartney's music - on the one hand vitally fresh, yet on the other hand instantly familiar. Don't worry about how he does that - just keep reading." 

- Paul Schullery, author of The Fishing Life and A Fish Come True

"John Gierach gives us fishing as the alert life; people, places, and rivers seen by a first-rate noticer whose amiable disposition never alarms the prey." 

- Thomas McGuane

"Gierach's inviting, down-to-earth, and humorous work shares a deep love of fly-fishing and the ways it can be a metaphor for life." 

- Publishers Weekly