Why read about hiking the Appalachian Trail from someone who at first seems ill-equipped for the task ahead? That is part of the point of this story and the charm of this thoughtful book, which quickly grows on you: to learn from mistakes, to keep going, despite failures. There are the rigors of the AT, the doubts over physical ability and confidence, the way chance and life interfere, but also good things that keep showing upsunsets, trail magic, ravensif one just keeps going. -- Rick Van Noy * author of Sudden Spring: Stories of Adaptation in a Climate-Changed South * Turners reference to killing the Buddha symbolically presents an important lesson that must be continually attended while rambling through the wilderness. When we project our own conceptions onto the wild, we fail to become present with the other who stands before us, whether that is a fellow human, plant, animal, or a mountain. Killing the Buddha is a gesture of erasing our conceptions so that we might encounter the wild. -- Kip Redick * author of American Camino: Walking as Spiritual Practice on the Appalachian Trail * Killing the Buddha on the Appalachian Trail makes skillful use of the abundant sights of the trail through beautiful imagery, submerging the reader in their own version of the journey. With the addition of historical details, this story provides readers with a new appreciation for the historic landmarks in question and an itch to head into the outdoors themselves. . . . [ A]n enjoyable, at times funny, and uplifting story that challenges the reader to reconsider how they approach their own journeys through life. -- Sidney Gavel * The Southeastern Librarian *
