Janine Marill Comments 3 and 4

I agree with Matthew about the importance of analyzing the author’s purpose. Bryson provides the factual asides to give the reader more information about the nature of the trail. Some of the facts serve Bryson’s purpose, and give the reader interesting, necessary information. However, I think that the amount of information that Bryson provides is too much, and the reader is overwhelmed with facts. Part of the author’s purpose is to entertain the reader, and after a while, the facts go from entertaining to annoying. Even though the facts can be useful, Bryson’s purpose would have been better served by leaving out some of the facts.

I agree with Philip; some of Katz’s rants were irritating. I don’t feel as strongly as Phillip; I found some of the factual information useful and interesting. However, Bryson provided way too much information about most of his historical and trail facts, and he makes too many digressions. Clearly, Bryson has chosen quantity over quality, and many of his rants are fairly boring. Also, if the logging companies are well-regulated, as Phillip says, then Bryson needed to provide more accurate information about environmental issues.