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Tim Mathis

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Influences
David Sedaris, Rolf Potts, Bill Bryson

Member Since
January 2019


Join the mailing list at TimMathisWrites.com for ongoing projects.

Or follow on Instagram @dirtbagguide

I was born country, and raised near Middletown, Ohio - the town that was the subject of J.D. Vance's memoir of poverty and suffering, "Hillbilly Elegy." I didn't think it was as bad as he made it out to be, and I spent my childhood building forts in hay bales, behaving irresponsibly, and filling Quaker Oats containers with snakes that my friends and I caught in the creek.

I've traveled a lot since then. On my first trip overseas when I was a teenager, I went to Peru on an Evangelical mission trip with my youth group, and tried to share the Gospel by dressing up like a clown and performing for street children.

In my 20's I married my high sch
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Tim Mathis Bullshit Jobs, Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood, The Body Keeps the Score, Debt, On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal, Are We Sm…moreBullshit Jobs, Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood, The Body Keeps the Score, Debt, On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?(less)
Tim Mathis Go for a run or a hike. It always shakes things loose.
Average rating: 4.02 · 427 ratings · 49 reviews · 5 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Dirtbag's Guide to Life...

3.92 avg rating — 338 ratings4 editions
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I Hope I Was Wrong About Et...

4.33 avg rating — 48 ratings4 editions
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The Camino for the Rest of ...

4.57 avg rating — 35 ratings2 editions
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I Hope I Was Wrong About Et...

3.40 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions
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Deconsecrating Myself

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2011 — 3 editions
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More books by Tim Mathis…

Peaks of the Balkans: 7 Things You Should Know, in the Order You Should Know Them

The Peaks of the Balkans is going to be one of those trips against which you'll compare every future experience.
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Published on July 26, 2026 12:14
Wilderness and th...
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The Active Soul: ...
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Tim’s Recent Updates

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I'll Sleep When I'm Dead by Crystal Zevon
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Five stars for emotional complexity.

Like a lot of other reviewers, I came away from this book feeling disgusted by Zevon. He was just terrible to everyone he loved, through his entire life. Consistently abusive and sometimes to an actually criminal
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Big Baby by Kevin James Thornton
"I told a friend I was reading this, and they said, “oh! He’s so funny!” And I had to say, “he is! But this book isn’t funny at all.” It’s actually something much better, I’ll call it a balm for the souls of anyone who came of age in the 90s, perhaps " Read more of this review »
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Big Baby by Kevin James Thornton
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The Thoreau You Don't Know by Robert Sullivan
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The Age of Wonder by Richard  Holmes
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Switch by Chip Heath
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Great, practical book on the psychology of change. A little more business focused than khan I wanted personally but still really helpful.
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Rooted by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
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How God Becomes Real by T.M. Luhrmann
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Brilliant. The approach to the study is spot on but unusual. Religion is not primarily about belief, it’s about practices that “make God real” in the believer’s experience. There’s interesting overlap with Jonathan Haidt’s “The Righteous Mind” and th ...more
Poets on the Peaks by John Suiter
"It seemed absolutely appropriate to finish this book on Earth Day. It's a knock-out account of Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Jack Kerouac's times as fire lookouts in the north Cascade range of Washington state - my backyard, albeit about an hour fr" Read more of this review »
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Poets on the Peaks by John Suiter
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Quotes by Tim Mathis  (?)
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“The world needs people in touch with their humanity, their mortality, and place in the natural world. And for a million reasons, the world needs people who know how to have a good time for the hell of it. People who want to run through the hills because it’s breathtaking and swim in the cold ocean because it makes them feel alive. People that push their limits because it provides a good buzz and who aren’t afraid to sail through a storm because it makes for a good story later. So protect that sense of meaning - the world needs you.”
Tim Mathis, The Dirtbag's Guide to Life: Eternal Truth for Hiker Trash, Ski Bums, and Vagabonds

220 Goodreads Librarians Group — 337500 members — last activity 1 minute ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more
52937 Around the World in 80 Books — 31795 members — last activity 23 hours, 15 min ago
Reading takes you places. Where in the world will your next book take you? If you love world literature, translated works, travel writing, or explorin ...more
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