Being, nothingness, and Fly Fishing by Michael Crecchio

[gene bethea]

got this book as a Christmas gift.  Don't have a clue what the title has to do with the book, but the author is a really good writer.  its about fly fishing; a guy from the east quits his job and becomes a trout bum.  His descriptions of trout fishing and steelhead fishing the western states gives a person who's never done that a good account of the fishing in the region.  I especially enjoyed his fishing exploits for steelhead in the Pacific northwest.  Even though its not about warmwater fishing, it is an enjoyable read for anyone who loves to fly fish

[Kirk Dietrich]

Gene, does he say how to accomplish quiting your job and pursueing a sport that most working stiffs have a hard time affording making an income?
Years ago, I had to resort to selling flies to make money to be a bass, bluegill and redfish bum while my wife and I maintained full time jobs to pay for our house and four children.

Sounds like an interesting read, thanks for the review.

Kirk

[gene bethea]

he wasn't a married man; had no children.  He worked for a Atlantic city newspaper and got burned out as an investigative reporter, mainly covering mob stories.  Since there was no good fly fishing in new jersey he went west; finally ended up going back to work for a while in san francisco area since he liked steelheading so much.  I had read an earlier work, A Clean, Well lighted Stream, years ago and had turned my son onto that piece, so he found this book and thought i might like it.  he was right.

[goflies]

Since both of his titles reference landmarks in existentialist writing, it's hard to imagine the author as a trout bum, since anglers are by nature a pretty optimistic bunch.  On the other hand, if he's a steelheader, a good grasp on nothingness might be a good attitude to have.

[Chris Barclay]

good one, GF!

[gene bethea]

well, when someone else reads it i would like to know where the title came from as i saw nothing that would indicate a rationale for the title.  It could be a title aimed at the yuppie crowd, kinda like the book, "how to $&*$ in the woods" so a persone would buy it based on the catchy title:)

[gene bethea]

I went back, read the introduction, and came away with this quote:
"Fly Fishing may be seen as a way of existing meaningful in our time, as much as that is possible, which is never  much.  We come out of nothing we go back into nothing- but we have the evening rise on the Henry's Fork.  The world is all we get, and that should be enough for anyone.  Each of us had staggering good luck to be born.  And we live in a world where there is fishing.  It's one of the oldest themes: We seek in nature a consolation for our mortality."
so...........

[Chris Barclay]

I read on amazon that the name was the author's attempt at poking fun at the overly serious fly fishing book titles, or something like that.

[Rick Nelson]

Here is how to quit your job and spend the rest of your life fly fishing using an idea first proposed by Steve Martin in a bit he did called, "How to make a million dollars and not pay taxes."

First, get a million dollars, then quit your job and go fly fishing!

Rick

[blufloyd]

All we are is dust, wind is the main variable keep it out of your backcast.

Remember you are the hatch. Vote Republican in the primaries.

As you can tell 30 mph winds are hampering my ice fishing on a holiday I gave up 10 days off a year to have off.