I don't keep up with mainstream entertainment culture anymore. I had no idea who Nick Offerman was when I selected this CD set at the local library. (Nor did I know of his actress wife, Megan Mullally.) I picked out this book for the title and for the freshness of the concept. And now that I'm familiar with Offerman's writing and speaking, I aim to enjoy more of it.

Offerman is known by most folks first as an accomplished actor (especially on the TV show Parks & Recreation) and then as an equally talented woodworker. He's also a humorist who is a terrific writer, and a person who loves language. He loves being outside and with nature. Here he gives us a three-part memoir and travelogue, in which he and selected companions explore and connect with the natural landscape and with some of its people.

The first part follows Offerman and his two friends, singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy and author George Saunders, as they embark on an extended hiking adventure in Glacier National Park in Montana. If you have already read Offerman's second book, Gumption (2015), then you know that he met both Jeff and George as he was researching and writing that manuscript. Now these men are the kinds of friends who do things together. This celebrity threesome reminded me of listening to Michael J. Fox's memoirs and hearing him talk about his golf outings with author Harlan Coban and TV personality George Stephanopoulos. Wow, can famous people hang out and do seemingly normal, everyday activities with one another? Who knew? Nevertheless: Nick, Jeff and George hike some serious trails and even cross some icy snow fields at Glacier. The experience encourages them to think about public parks and access, as well as native rights to parcels of land throughout the American West. Theirs is hardly a mere walk in the woods, a la Bill Bryson on the AT.

In the second part, Offerman travels to the Lake District of northern England to visit with notable shepherd and author James Rebanks. The Rebanks family raises both crops and animals in the most sustainable ways possible. Having grown up in rural Illinois, Offerman is an eager student, even though he now owns no farm of his own. He returns to the Rebanks farm again and again, in order to help out with the chores and to be schooled in the better ways of approaching the business of agriculture.

The third part comes about during the pandemic of 2020. Offerman and his wife buy an Airstream trailer in order to get to Oklahoma and Illinois and to visit with family members for the holiday season. They also take the opportunity to travel more around the American Southwest and Midwest. They're newbies at the RV game, so some of their encounters should be especially interesting and amusing to those readers who are practiced at it. The situation sure does provide Offerman with more and different perspectives about the land and its people.

Along the way -- through Montana, across the plains and into the lakes district -- we learn a lot about Nick, his roots, what he likes to do and what he believes to be true. He scrutinizes all of these explorations and uses them to think of the attached issues, both large and small. He does much more than just report on what he sees. Nick takes his inspiration for a close connection with nature from the writings and wisdom of Wendell Berry. (Whom he also got to meet in person, while working on the book Gumption.) Offerman likes to quote Berry often. So if you don't know anything about this writer, you'd best study up at least a bit to understand where Offerman himself is coming from.

As a humorist, Offerman puts me in mind of both Garrison Keillor and George Carlin. He's the kind of person who can look at a common situation and can find the audacity and the humor in it. And maybe he can even question its validity at the same time. He's not quite as terse as Carlin, and not quite as purely homespun as Keillor. Yet he seems to share similar thought processes with them, and is just as insightful and as sarcastic as both. Offerman also has an extensive vocabulary that he illustrates and exercises with vigor. I think that he sometimes mispronounces some of the $2 words he's chosen, though. Maybe he does this on purpose. Because yes, as usual, I listened to Offerman tell his own stories in his own voice, on the set of 10 CDs for the book. His narration was a welcome sound to fill my car. And yes, at times I had to laugh out loud while I drove.

Be aware that the promotion of this book uses some sleight of hand in its description. The publisher says that Offerman "takes a literary journey to America's frontier to celebrate the people and landscape that have made it great." Well, yes, in parts one and three, he does this. But fully one third of the book takes place in England. Did the promoter even read that middle section?

However: I have to give them kudos on the back-cover blurbs, which are absolutely hilarious. Even though I recommend listening to Offerman read his own work, I think that you should also seek out a hardcover copy of this title, just to turn it over and to read the dust jacket. Get ready to laugh again.

Nick Offerman is a regular guy who can use his celebrity status to do some very cool things. He gives us some fresh food for thought and many laughs at the same time. We should just be glad that we've been invited to tag along.