All The Time In The World By John Gierach

Been a fan since his first , and this one again does not disappoint. John has a way to make you feel like you know him and his friends. And , obviously, would like to fish with them. Every picture he paints with words brings me to the lake, stream, wherever, and the view is wonderful. I know there are other good fishing authors out there , but none have brought me so seamlessly in their world. Keep up the great work Mr Gierach.

John is 77 year old now. I’ve never met the guy, but his writing has steadily aged like a fine bottle of bourbon. Same great sense of humor, same great stories. He’s such a relatable guy for your average American outdoorsman. I read Trout Bum before this and was immediately hooked. I wasn’t sure if all these years later his new book would hold up. It does. If more people were like John, the world would be a better place. Tight lines.

I’ve added this book to my John Gierach collection, I haveTwenty Two of His Books

More of Johns great work!

Gierach won’t give you indigestion or challenge your intellect or vocabulary, but he does say things that make you think from time to time, most notably for me in this volume “nothing eats if nothing dies.” Gierach also has become slightly less reluctant in recent years than previously to reveal his political leanings. I don’t know any Republicans outside Alaska who have thoroughly accepted that human activities have changed–and continue to change–the Earth’s climate. Gierach has accepted that. He also is old enough that he can see the day that age-related infirmities will start to limit his fishing, although I imagine he hopes that day still is far off. I hope so, for him and for me (I am a couple of years older than John).

He also writes about the covid-19 pandemic in this book. It affected his travels as it affected most of our travels. All this continues to make his readers feel as if a good friend is talking to us. So if you liked his previous books, then you will like this one. Every once in a while I felt Gierach has lost a step–there are more editorial errors than I remember in his previous books, for example, and a couple of chapters seem less original than the others–and that’s why I gave it four rather than five stars. But I enjoyed the book and hope there are more to come.

I’ve been reading John Gierach since the early 90s. He has always had a simple, unaffected writing style tinged with wisdom on the appreciation of the smaller things in life that seemed to belie his younger age 30 years ago but now seems perfectly aligned to his getting up there in years. (I can say that as it’s happening to me, too)

While some of the terms like Pale Morning Dun or #16 fly may not make sense to non fly fisher persons, I imagine even they would enjoy the simple wordsmithing of this book. Gierach finds universally relatable aspects of every story he tells, whether it’s the cliches of small town America, the joy of being out of doors and breathing fresh air, or the saddening changes he’s seen in the places he visits as climate change alters our world.

Gierach writes with sentimentality but always avoids the maudlin or melodramatic. Where he truly shines is when he talks about people, those he knows well and those he only observes from afar. In a few sparse words he brings those characters to life in entirely recognizable ways. He avoids drama, unless it is the heart-pounding excitement of hooking a fat trout, and relies as much on our experience with the human condition for understanding as we rely on his words to bring us into the story.

Every book by Mr Gierach is a delight in its own way; this is no exception.