Solid   November 17, 2005

truth is stranger than fiction   February 13, 2002

For those of you who are familiar with White's "Doc Ford" novels, you can see where many of his characters, plots and the "research" for his tales come from. For those readers who have not yet discovered this marvelous writer, I encourage you to begin here and then sample his hand at fiction.


Funny travel writing   March 28, 2001
  5 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is usually not my sort of book, but after reading the first story, I was hooked. This story, "The Legend," about the author's hilarious Chesapeake Bay retriever, is worth the price of the book by itself, especially if you're a dog lover or animal lover, because it's the best story about a dog, or any animal, that I've ever read.

But there is plenty more where that came from in this entertaining collection of essays. Although not what I was looking for initially, this book was a delightful surprise, and after reading this, Mr. White has another fan. I now intend to buy and read all of his other books, and I'm recommending him to my other friends as well.


Real simple, and real good, White's voice is authentic.   October 10, 1998
Randy Wayne White has more hits than misses in this book of essays. He has an authentic American take on the world, with a Floridian's amusement and acceptance of foul weather, tough dogs, tougher kids, and bugs of all kinds. This book is a keeper, and we are lucky it has been reprinted. His mysteries are real good, too, but somehow I wish that he would take his gift more seriously. By that, I think he could be a major American literary force, if he didn't have to pay for braces, college tuition, and fishing gear. However, being sun dried, and wind weathered, he should last long enough to get back into that true and raw, and heart felt need to be a voice from the salt flats that reaches people in a Pulitzer kind of way.


An Absolutely Wonderful Travel Book   September 22, 1998
  10 out of 10 found this review helpful

Batfishing in the Rainforest is one of the funniest, most insightful and heart touching collections of essays I've ever read. After reading Mr. White's newest novel (The Mangrove Coast) I have now gone on a search for every book he's written, and Batfishing in the Rainforest is unlike anything he -- or anyone else -- has done. Mr. White wrote most of these essays while he was a fishing guide, he says, at a lovely old marina on Sanibel Island, the famous vacation spot in Florida. From that little marina, he ranged far afield, traveling around the world to write quirky stories for Outside Magazine. The first story in the collection, a tale about his hilarious dog, Gator, is absolutely unforgetable and well worth the price of admission. The stories which follow, although occasionally uneven, are always uniquely written, often funny and always intelligent. Mr. White is one of those writer we all love to "discover'. DAH