Book Review | The Hitchhiker Man by Matt Fox @HitchhikerMan #travelad
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  • N. N. Light
    • Dec 4, 2019
    • 3 min read

Book Review | The Hitchhiker Man by Matt Fox @HitchhikerMan #traveladventure #memoir #bookreview


Title: The Hitchhiker Man

Author: Matt Fox

Genre: Travel Adventure, Memoir

Book Blurb:

When you’re willing to step outside your comfort zone, the world awaits.

In 2007, Matt Fox—a recent graduate who studied strategic decision-making in university—found himself alone on the side of a highway with no plan other than to see where his thumb and the road would take him. For the next two years, he would travel across Canada to Alaska and back, experiencing life in a way most people never will…a life beyond his comfort zone.

Along the way, he encounters adventures he never imagined—sleeping under the stars, sneaking into drug-fueled music festivals, and working at ski resorts and local farms to earn enough for his next meal. He also confronts danger—and his own mortality—from a life-threatening injury in Whistler, to a confessed murderer in Banff, to a hungry grizzly in Alaska. But most importantly, Fox learns that life isn’t about getting to the destination, but enjoying each moment along the way.

From feeling like an invisible outcast on day one to a man comfortable in his own skin no matter the circumstance, The Hitchhiker Man is the unforgettable story of how one man got lost on the road, and ultimately found himself.

My Review:

This is quite a book about life choices and philosophy. No matter what challenges you are facing in life, this book might open your eyes to what you could accomplish if you stepped out of your comfort zone. In many ways this tale of hitchhiking is as important as a book of philosophy as it is a true-life tale.

Very few people would have the guts to take the journey that the author takes. It has been said before, but it is worth saying again... it is much better and safer for people to live this trip vicariously through the reading of this book. Not many people on this side of sanity would ever think of camping in a tent in Denali without any supplies or bear spray so getting to read someone doing it is enlightening.

I found the book an enjoyable read and one that I would recommend to people who enjoy adventure. About as well-done version of a life tale as I have ever read.

My issues with this book went from the subtle to starker. First, for someone to say they are hitchhiking across Canada but starting in Sudbury instead of Newfoundland is, at least, disingenuous. Geographically speaking, that is hitching halfway across Canada. My bigger issue is Heidi. Who exactly was Heidi to the author? Friend? Lover? What happened to Heidi? I half expected to see an author bio after that stated that he and Heidi were married with a couple of kids. I was left in the end wondering what the heck happened to Heidi?

My Rating: 4.5 stars

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Author Biography:

Matt Fox was born to a middle class family in 1983 near Toronto. He studied Economics at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. After graduating in 2007 he risked it all to go hitchhiking across Canada. During his journey he learned that there is more to life than what first meets the eye. Along the road he is forced to consider how his spontaneous decisions affect his life. In his first book The Hitchhiker Man he shares his thoughts, emotions and what he learned with each experience he went through.

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Reviewed by: Mr. N

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