Book Review: Walden On Wheels by Ken Ilgunas

This book took me a month to read.

It took me so long because it was hard to get into. I picked up this book with too high of expectations. I was expecting another Into the wild by Jon Krakauer. That was my first problem. I was expecting more of an adventure book.

also don’t be fooled by the cover. You only really get into the van part on the final third of the book.

I feel like the book for me was split into 3.

The first third was about debt and the struggles, had some adventures but more just along the lines of saying yes and doing what you want to do rather than what people tell you to do. Which overall is good start for this book. I don’t think enough people are willing to just go on an adventure even if it’s not the society “norm” to do. This first half was his struggle to take a different path than his peers were taking. (I would saying choosing but realistically if you live life by the playbook society gives you are you really making your own decisions?)

The second third of the book was more adventure. He still addresses debt the whole time but in a way that is more inspiring. He also goes to talk about saying yes to an adventure even when everyone is feeding you all the fear they believe to be true without even trying it for themselves.

The third part of the book is when you finally get to see Ken settle into who he is and who he is decided to be and become. This is when I felt like the book was getting to the best part. The first 2 thirds of the book I wanted to give this book 3 stars but the last third of the book made me want to give it 4.5 stars. I like where the story ended up and the messages behind it. The parts of this book I underlined and highlighted the most was the back third. by the end of it I was hooked and finished the book really fast. The final third is when you finally see the cover of the book come into play, the van.

Overall I liked the final messages of the book. I thought at first it was taking a really long time to get anywhere but I liked where it ended up. Since he gave so much information in the first 2 thirds it really sent home the messages in the back on the book.