7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fun book, Sep 4 2007
By Avid Reader "Reader" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Hey Ranger 2: More True Tales of Humor and Misadventure from the Great Outdoors (Paperback)
Having enjoyed Mr. Burnett's first book, I was eager to read his sequel. This book was also fun to read. A good vacation book that as each chapter is short and can stand alone.
It's hard to believe that people come to our National Parks so ill-prepared. It taught me a lot of what not to do!
This is a book that is great for the whole family - I shared it with my 85 year old mother and she is still laughing.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
More great short stories!, Feb 13 2008
By loujr - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Hey Ranger 2: More True Tales of Humor and Misadventure from the Great Outdoors (Paperback)
Just like the first book, these stories keep you smiling! You simply have to enjoy being able to read a short story that makes your laugh AND then be able to share it with your friends and family. That is what Jim Burnett gives you with this book. Mr. Burnett painstakingly sets up the stories so that you see the trouble coming and that is where my grin starts to grow! A definite camp-fire read for those who want to laugh instead of jump!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Even worse than the first one, May 19 2011
By Brad Allen "Middle Fork Giants" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Hey Ranger 2: More True Tales of Humor and Misadventure from the Great Outdoors (Paperback)
Jim Burnett seems to have run out of material in his first "Hey Ranger" book so he applied his tiresome style of over-writing and using out of place phrases to incidents he seems to have only read about in reports. Many, possibly most, of the stories in the initial part of the book have phrases like "the report didn't mention" or "the report was unfortunately silent". I would expect an author to research beyond the report and check facts. What little information he does research seems to come directly from websites with references like "unverified claim on the Internet".
A "fun" book like this could get by on unresearched anecdotes if it were not for the author's insulting approach. Everyone in the park seems to be, according to Mr. Burnett, way more stupid than he. The chapter titled "Assumption Junction" is a prime example. He tells the story of a man and his wife, experienced outdoors people, who make a navigation error. In hindsight it is a dumb error but typical of what many of us have done on rivers or trails. The man is a canoe instructor and has done the route before. He goes past a sign and down a rapid way beyond their ability, then walks 3.5 miles back to get picked up. He made a mistake but got himself out. Mr. Burnett gives him and his wife insulting names ("Mo and Flo"), he does not attempt to interview them and instead makes up dialogue which makes them sound stupid since the report "does not record their conversation", and gives no credit to the couple figuring out their mistake and self-rescuing.
One of the few good stories was by an Australian friend and was not even about a national park. Mr. Burnett, after 120 pages does finally present some interesting material from his life, written without filler and insult, and "researched" because he lived it. But it is too little too late. The stories could be funny, well-written, with some details beyond official reports, and not insulting. But they are not.
Pass this book by, there are so many better ones out there.