Upon first reading this work of art by Bruce Tuckman, i was vacationing at a friend's lake house. The book was recomended to me to read so i began reading. The book did not leave my hands after that until I was done with it. It contains the same descriptiveness as the book, Once A Runner, by John L. Parker. This book ranks up at the top with the rest of them.

I read (and reread) this book before my first Boston Marathon. The action was so real I couldn't tell if this was fact...or fiction! Did Brad Townes win??? or did Bill Rogers win?? As I ran the route from Hopkinton to Boston, the scenes were vividly replayed in my mind. It was like I had been here before! This book is MUST reading for anyone attempting to qualify for Boston..."Long Road to Boston" convinced me that if Brad Townes could overcome his demons and handicaps, then surely I could train hard enough to join the runners at Boston...and I DID!! This book accompanied me to Boston!

I've read various novels dealing with the Sixties, Brautigan et al, but most were West Coast oriented. Boston's novel is East Coast. Now the times and stimulation were similar, but I think the East Coast version was little darker and more intellectual. Kind of East Village vs. Haight Asbury, the former already brimming with counter culture lore and history. Boston's book is intelligently and poetically written, but is not a quick read. This is serious literature, but as others have pointed out, a more accurate snapshot of the Sixties, not to mention a very entertaining one.

Boston has provided us with an uncannily accurate feel for the 60s, a decade of emergence, fueled by drugs and individualized anarchy

As in his poems, Boston creates very palpable imagery that helps place the reader in the midst of the characters for a realistic journey into one of the most important decades of the century

The world's of science fiction, horror, and fantasy are filled with archetypal male figures; madmen and monsters, supermen and genius'. We know them well, but what about their forgotten wives back home in the castle, mansion, or futuristic high rise? This collection of poems and short stories takes us behind formerly closed doors, and introduces us to many of those long suffering and oft neglected ladies. Beautifully written, and perhaps not that far off the mark in reference to some relationships.

I have been following Bruce Boston's writing since the mid seventies. This book is a sampler of the best of his work (except of course for _Stained Glass Rain_, which is a novel, and too long to include). Boston's poetry is unsurpassed in the science fiction/speculative field. His narrative is full of playful use of languague. Metaphor and metafiction flow magically from his pen. His characterizations are gritty and masterful. Included in this book are poems -- both long and short; stories -- both long and short; and novelettes. Oddly enough, my favorate piece in the book was a novelette, "Houses", which has no elements of the fantastic at all.

So far, my husband and I have been on three of the hikes. Of them, two were not as described -- I would have rated the Holyoke one as a Moderate-Difficult, given the steepness of the terrain, rather than Easy-Moderate. It also didn't talk about the alternate route to the top, which was much easier, and less stressful. However, I do like the history and the cultural background of the areas we're hiking through. Highly recommend the Mad River walk in the Waterville Valley -- but bring your bug spray!

It would have been very nice to have the book tell you when you had to pay for parking -- especially in the US Park Service territories. We will continue to use the book, but I'll take the descriptions with a large grain of salt, and bring cash, just in case.

This book not only gave great detailed information on the local hikes and outings, but also contained lots of helpful cultural and local interest details. Each destination was painstakingly researched and contains an extremely helpful and easy to decipher map of the area. For those planning longer trips, a helpful selection of local hotels and bed and breakfasts will be a welcome addition. I also appreciated the restaurant selections carefully sorted by price. The author writes with enthusiasm about each travel destination and is very convincing about the merits of each spot. I found the details for each country walk to be extremely helpful in increasing both my knowledge of the area and my overall enjoyment of the trips.