You’re Not Lost if You Can Still See the Truck: The Further Adventures of America’s Everyman Outdoorsman

Heavey (It’s Only Slow Food Until You Try to Eat It) embraces his mantra “enthusiasm is a lot more important than skill” wholeheartedly in this remarkably engaging and often hilarious collection of writings from his 30-year career as a contributor to numerous publications, including Field & Stream. Even those who have never baited a hook, assembled a tree stand, or sat in a duck blind will quickly find themselves drawn into Heavey’s world with colorful—and occasionally dangerous—accounts of outdoor life: shooting clay pigeons, nearly freezing to death in the remote Alaska wilderness, even manning the phones at Cabela’s, a massive outdoor retailer that handles roughly 15,000 calls a day. There is philosophical substance embedded in Heavey’s everyday musings, with insights into the murky waters of fatherhood and reflections on the meanings of childhood and manhood sprinkled throughout, but the emotional axis of the book is Heavey’s wrenching essay “Suddenly, She Was Gone,” an account of losing his young daughter. Unlike the chest-thumping TV personalities that dominate the outdoors hobby and leisure media today, the author’s humble and articulate worldview is unfailingly refreshing. (Dec.)