“If one takes anything to the woods to read, he seldom reads it; it does not taste good with such primitive air.”

Burroughs, John. “A Bed of Boughs” in “Locusts and Wild Honey” Volume 4 of The Writings of John Burroughs. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1907, p. 176.

Comment: I’ve read of new hikers taking along a weight of books and not reading them. One thinks one will have all the time in the world to read, but doesn’t reckon on being weary at the end of the day and still needing to collect water, prepare a meal, and so on. Burroughs, I think, was reaching back to something even more basic: that the idea of books clashes with the raw vibrancy of the woods. Maybe it was the idea of paper – the remnants of dead trees – up against the throbbing life of still standing trees.