Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living
Parks and Recreation actor and Making It co-host Nick Offerman shares his humorous fulminations on life, manliness, meat, and much more in this New York Times bestseller.
Growing a perfect moustache, grilling red meat, wooing a woman—who better to deliver this tutelage than the always charming, always manly Nick Offerman, best known as Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson? Combining his trademark comic voice and very real expertise in woodworking—he runs his own woodshop—Paddle Your Own Canoe features tales from Offerman’s childhood in small-town Minooka, Illinois—“I grew up literally in the middle of a cornfield”—to his theater days in Chicago, beginnings as a carpenter/actor and the hilarious and magnificent seduction of his now-wife Megan Mullally. It also offers hard-bitten battle strategies in the arenas of manliness, love, style, religion, woodworking, and outdoor recreation, among many other savory entrees.
A mix of amusing anecdotes, opinionated lessons and rants, sprinkled with offbeat gaiety, Paddle Your Own Canoe will not only tickle readers pink but may also rouse them to put down their smart phones, study a few sycamore leaves, and maybe even hand craft (and paddle) their own canoes.
Growing a perfect moustache, grilling red meat, wooing a woman—who better to deliver this tutelage than the always charming, always manly Nick Offerman, best known as Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson? Combining his trademark comic voice and very real expertise in woodworking—he runs his own woodshop—Paddle Your Own Canoe features tales from Offerman’s childhood in small-town Minooka, Illinois—“I grew up literally in the middle of a cornfield”—to his theater days in Chicago, beginnings as a carpenter/actor and the hilarious and magnificent seduction of his now-wife Megan Mullally. It also offers hard-bitten battle strategies in the arenas of manliness, love, style, religion, woodworking, and outdoor recreation, among many other savory entrees.
A mix of amusing anecdotes, opinionated lessons and rants, sprinkled with offbeat gaiety, Paddle Your Own Canoe will not only tickle readers pink but may also rouse them to put down their smart phones, study a few sycamore leaves, and maybe even hand craft (and paddle) their own canoes.
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Community Reviews
Since I read Amy Poehler's book, I wanted to finish Nick Offerman's book. Both of these caused me to start watching Parks and Recreation starting at Season 1.
I shouldn't compare the two but I am. I liked Amy's book much more and I think I know why. I was slightly disturbed by the number of times Offerman's refers to being "baked", "stoned" or just "smoking pot". I'm well aware people do this but I have never smoked pot and don't see the point. I'm usually disappointed when someone I admire admits to smoking that much.
Outside of that, however, this was a book I would keep putting down and then picking up to read. I didn't find it terribly readable in one sitting, like I did Amy's, but I was entertained. Offerman seems like a genuinely nice Midwestern guy. Plus, the detail on how he got into woodworking and the passion that is clearly behind it was great to read.
Offerman spends quite a bit of pages on his wife, Megan Mullally, who is very funny in her own right. The episodes of Parks and Rec where Tammy and Ron interact are some of the best.
This isn't a bad book to read if you like Ron Swanson, just don't expect much of the Swanson.
I shouldn't compare the two but I am. I liked Amy's book much more and I think I know why. I was slightly disturbed by the number of times Offerman's refers to being "baked", "stoned" or just "smoking pot". I'm well aware people do this but I have never smoked pot and don't see the point. I'm usually disappointed when someone I admire admits to smoking that much.
Outside of that, however, this was a book I would keep putting down and then picking up to read. I didn't find it terribly readable in one sitting, like I did Amy's, but I was entertained. Offerman seems like a genuinely nice Midwestern guy. Plus, the detail on how he got into woodworking and the passion that is clearly behind it was great to read.
Offerman spends quite a bit of pages on his wife, Megan Mullally, who is very funny in her own right. The episodes of Parks and Rec where Tammy and Ron interact are some of the best.
This isn't a bad book to read if you like Ron Swanson, just don't expect much of the Swanson.
I have read the majority of this book. I really get a nice chuckle out of Nick Offerman, and enjoy his personality and writing style. While he and I obviously have different opinions on religion as well as other aspects of life, that doesn't mean I can't still enjoy his work or appreciate his art, especially his woodworking. It was fun to read about his life and his evolution into the enternainment industry. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys bios as well as anyone who is a fan of Nick's.
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