Book Review: All The Time in the World by John Gierach

Posted on May 5, 2023 by troyleebasso

After finishing the latest John Gierach Book “All the time in the world” I immediately grabbed a 5-weight and went trout fishing. John has a way of transporting us through all the bullcrap, so often associated with fly fishing. He has no ulterior motives to promote sponsors, or be hip and cool. He writes to a fly fisherman’s soul by telling us stories about fishing, without telling us how to fish. When I told a journalist friend, and fly fisherman, that I was doing a review on this book his comment was that John had written the same great book a dozen times. I thought about that for a while and had to disagree. Every Gierach book has a cast of characters and unique stories that somehow captivate his readers. His writings give me mental images of people. places, and most importantly dogs. The book opens talking about the fact fishermen are everywhere and takes the reader to a Michigan dock to ponder the cost of fly fishing. Then from that point the reader takes a trip to a not so “prettied up” town in Alaska. Finally we arrive at a camp where “Uncle Fucker” enters the large cast of characters, and somehow makes the reader ponder some environmental issues with out actually talking about environmental issues, that John had introduced us all to over the years. After that we go on a series of adventures both near and far with John and his cast of friends, guides, and even Moose the fishing Labrador.

These books, especially this one, are a must have in every angler’s book collection. My collection of John Gierach books are all on a shelf above both Hemmingway and Tom McGuane.