
Paddle Your Own Canoe
One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $15.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Nick Offerman
-
By:
-
Nick Offerman
Parks and Recreation actor Nick Offerman shares his humorous fulminations on life, manliness, meat, and much more in his first book.
Growing a perfect moustache, grilling red meat, wooing a woman - who better to deliver this tutelage than the always charming, always manly Nick Offerman, best known as Parks and Recreation's Ron Swanson? Combining his trademark comic voice and very real expertise in woodworking - he runs his own woodshop - Paddle Your Own Canoe features tales from Offerman's childhood in small-town Minooka, Illinois - "I grew up literally in the middle of a cornfield" - to his theater days in Chicago, beginnings as a carpenter/actor and the hilarious and magnificent seduction of his now-wife Megan Mullally. It also offers hard-bitten battle strategies in the arenas of manliness, love, style, religion, woodworking, and outdoor recreation, among many other savory entrees.
A mix of amusing anecdotes, opinionated lessons and rants, sprinkled with offbeat gaiety, Paddle Your Own Canoe will not only tickle readers pink but may also rouse them to put down their smart phones, study a few sycamore leaves, and maybe even handcraft (and paddle) their own canoes.
©2013 Nick Offerman (P)2013 PenguinListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
“[Offerman] not only explores his Paul Bunyan-like image with tongue-in-cheek lessons on manliness, complete with illustrations and advice, but also offers poignant memories of his childhood growing up in Illinois and hilarious anecdotes from his career.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“Offerman touches on everything from his days as a break-dancing, football-playing farm boy in Minooka (about 50 miles southwest of the Loop) to his freewheeling, hedonistic 20s in Chicago to the inevitable Hollywood struggles that followed. But he doesn’t gloss over embarrassing moments, including his two trips to jail during college at the University of Illinois - one for shoplifting Ronnie Milsap cassettes from Kmart as a joke; the other, he says, a convoluted case of mistaken identity. Between anecdotes, he delivers impassioned pleas and rants…” (Chicago magazine)
“Thought-provoking, profane, and frequently hilarious…getting to know Offerman through his stumbling courtship with Megan Mullally and Kabuki theater training is well worth the price of admission.” (Publishers Weekly)
Featured Article: Tune into the Best Audiobooks and Podcasts by Sitcom Stars
When you love a TV show and follow it for seasons, it almost feels like the characters are old friends. That's why audiobooks and podcasts by fan-favorite sitcom stars can feel so uniquely engaging and intimate. Whether they're letting you in on behind-the-scenes stories, recalling memories from their own lives and careers, or simply telling interesting or funny anecdotes, it's a joy to hear beloved actors share their points of view in their own voices.
People who viewed this also viewed...


















Would you consider the audio edition of Paddle Your Own Canoe to be better than the print version?
Yes, I read through half of the printed edition until I found out the author read the audio version. Without hesitation I downloaded this book and let ten hours fly by as I listened to this gentle, bear-like man recite prose that made my chest hair growWhat does Nick Offerman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Is this a question? Have you heard him talk? His man giggle? Phenomenal stuff, really.Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I laughed much, but more importantly I could feel my twenty-something-year-old inner yuppie child quiver before a new mountain man like giant of self reliance and well roundednessAny additional comments?
You'll love it more than Ron Swanson. I read this book going in with the idea that it'd be more of a book on life from the humorous outlook of Ron Swanson ( A character played by Offerman on Parks and Rec.) Instead, I was delightfully surprised to hear Nick's recounts of growing up with larger than life parental figures, his often humor infused humility, and his down to earth life lessons. I Will listen to it again.Like bacon for your ears
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
#RainbowSong
Slow read, but worth it. Great story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great Book. Love the Authors work.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you listen to Paddle Your Own Canoe again? Why?
I would definitely listen to Paddle Your Own Canoe again. I originally thought of buying this book in hardback, yet made the choice to hear it read aloud by Nick himself on an audiobook. Instantly I realized I made an amazing choice. Listening to Nick narrate his life in his own words was as entertaining and majestic as passing a bottle of whiskey around the campfire with friends, then in a drunken stupor, shooting off bottle rockets and running around naked. The experience would be nothing of the sort if I was reading it by myself, and hearing him actually sing the Rainbow Song, the one he wrote his wife Megan Mullally's birthday, made it all the better. As a fan of Parks and Rec and an avid follower of Offerman Woodworking, this book brought greater depth to a person who is often confined to the character Ron Swanson he plays on TV. And while his tone and affect still enlivened images in my head of the mustachio'd, deadpan Libertarian, I walked away with a greater respect and admiration of a hard-working American actor and icon. He's articulate, funny, thoughtful and entertaining.What other book might you compare Paddle Your Own Canoe to and why?
The Heming Way by Beckerman, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Anything satirical yet honest when it needs to be.Which character – as performed by Nick Offerman – was your favorite?
Himself. I feel like Offerman has as great sense of self-awareness as he does humor, and often it's masked by the character of Ron Swanson. To hear his vulnerable side, his hardships, successes, blatant sex drive and of course how much he loves his wife is inspirational.Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Laugh, for sure. His little ad libs as he reads along really personifies the book.A Truly Great American Read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Worth every penny.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Nick Effing Offerman... Nuff said
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great performance
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Nick Offerman is a smarty pants
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thank you Mr. offerman
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's really great to hear a text like this read by the author with the phrasing, and timing they imagined when they wrote the book.
Epic
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.