Colin Fletcher

While I was hiking this weekend, I thought about some things I'd read in Colin Fletcher's book, The Complete Walker. So, on a whim, I googled him today. I was surprised, and saddened, to learn he passed away a couple months ago. Apparently (and somewhat ironically), he died from complications caused by being hit by a SUV several years ago.

I recall reading The Complete Walker (I believe the first one) in the late 70's prior to embarking on a summer of backpacking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. His writing had a major impact on me as I learned what to do (and what not to do).

I'm saddened to hear of his passing. To me, he was a legend in the realm of backpacking.

His writing was/is a major influence on many of the posters here. For some comments, see a thread from last June, "Fletcher v Kephart", now closed.

Colin was a gem.
If you ever need to prepare a text for teaching, take a tip from his writing style.
Imagine all the stuff you learned reading the complete walker, without really knowing that you were learning. His style of writing drew you in to learning the points he was trying to get across.
I've followed his style while preparing a couple of professional education seminars within my field of expertise (very technical, rather dry, typically dull as heck to read) and found that those who read the material absorbed quite a bit of information and almost seemed to enjoy it!

Fred, I wish I had thought of that when I was teaching. I used to teach statistical applications and biometrics and learned that it was even beter than Ambien as a sopophoric. I did everything I could to spice it up but, given the subject, I was working against a definite head wind.

Pika - When your topics are:

Statistical analysis in an engineering simulation environment

and

Design considerations for OLAP structures for post simulation analysis

keeping the audience awake is tough!

These were developed at the invitation of a software company for their simulation seminars. The first time around I nearly fell asleep during a presentation which I was making. (fortunate for me I was giving it to some co-workers as a "walk through" and was not in front of a large group)

Following that incident I revised the presentation to be more conversational. This seemed to leave those who participated more alert and with a better understanding of the details presented at the end of the four to six hour marathon sessions.

I'm quite happy that I'm no longer giving those types of presentations.

I enjoyed his work and have quoted from it many times to our scout troop. Sad to hear he is gone. His work was the first recommendation to read when I started hiking back in the 70's.