For fans of Bill Bryson and David Sedaris comes an anti-nature memoir that will resonate with anyone who would rather stay inside with a book than venture into the mountains, from one of Scandinavia’s biggest comedians.

“A smart, funny and honest exposé of the cult of the outdoors, from the sublime to the ridiculous.”—Foreword Reviews

Sometime around his forties, Are Kalvø starts losing his friends… to the mountains. Friends who used to meet him at the pub are now hiking and skiing every weekend, and when they do show up, all they talk about is feeling at one with nature (without a hint of irony). When Are realizes he’s the only person who hasn’t posted a selfie on a mountain, he starts to wonder: does he have it all wrong?

To find out, Are buys some ridiculously expensive gear and heads into the woods. The result of his sardonic trek is at once a smart and funny take-down of outdoors culture, and a reluctant surrender to nature’s undeniable pull. An adventure, a comedy, and a tragedy, The Hiking Book from Hell is destined to become a nature writing (and nature hating) classic.

Translated by: Lucy Moffatt