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Tim Mathis

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Website

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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: 4.01 · 371 ratings · 44 reviews · 5 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Dirtbag's Guide to Life...

3.94 avg rating — 299 ratings4 editions
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I Hope I Was Wrong About Et...

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The Camino for the Rest of ...

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I Hope I Was Wrong About Et...

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Deconsecrating Myself

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2011 — 3 editions
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Life after the PCT: Thru-hiking was the best career decision I ever made.

10 years to the day before I wrote this, my wife Angel and I arrived at the Northern Terminus in Canada after hiking the PCT from Campo.  11 years ago I was 34 years old, stressed out but optimistic, and one and a half years into my career as a nurse. I’d retrained at midlife, sick of a decade in low-paid nonprofit work. I’d scored a good paying job at a prestigious hospital, and I liked it.  Ange Read more of this blog post »
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Wilderness and th...
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A Story is a Deal...
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The Active Soul: ...
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Wilderness and the American Mind by Roderick Nash
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The Book That Changed America by Randall Fuller
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I enjoyed this book a lot but it was very specific to my idiosyncratic interests - Darwin, Transcendentalists, the history of science. Great portrait of a particular moment in history but if you are looking for something more comprehensive about the ...more
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Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday
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A Story is a Deal by Will Storr
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The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
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Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller
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The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
The War of Art
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Comedy Book by Jesse David Fox
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Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
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What a beautiful, useful book. Can’t believe I waited so long to read it. Worldview shifting.
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Three Roads Back by Robert D. Richardson Jr.
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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

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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 — 30615 members — last activity 3 hours, 59 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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