Should the Tent Be Burning Like That?: A Professional Amateur’s Guide to the Outdoors by Bill Heavey

Maybe the best way to explain Bill Heavey’s writing is to note that both Ted Nugent and the Wall Street Journal—not the likeliest of companions—like it. For more than twenty years, Heavey has staked a claim as one of America’s best sportswriters. In his Field and Stream column, A Sportsman’s Life, and feature stories for that magazine and others, he takes readers across the country and beyond to experience his triumphs and failures as a suburban dad who happens to love hunting and fishing. This new collection gathers a wide range of his best work. He nearly drowns attempting to fish the pond inside the cloverleaf off an Interstate Highway four miles from the White House. He almost destroys a forty-four-foot houseboat on a river in Florida and bravely buys pantyhose to save his legs on a long horseback ride into the Wyoming mountains. Whatever the subject, Heavey’s tales are odes to the notion that enthusiasm is more important than skill. Whether he’s hunting mule deer in Montana, draining cash on an overpriced pistol, or ruminating on the joys and agonies of outdoor gear, Heavey always entertains and enlightens with honesty and wit.