Ranger Confidential

So, this was a fun romp into the world of park rangers. They're dashing and daring and spend a lot of time in extreme weather situations with tourists doing dumb things. The book pacing is a little odd, the chapters are disconnected, and mostly it reads kind of like a listicle, but it's fun. I will say, this book makes a terrible travel companion. Don't be me: reading it before hiking is a bad idea that will cause you to quake in your hiking boots, imagining everything that can go wrong. Lankford pulls no punches telling us that it is only the illusion of safety that gets us into the great outdoors. I read it while hiking in the Alps and wanted my illusion of safety back!

Coming into this read, knowing it's a series of stories, and not 1 continuous story, set the right expectation for me. And I find it refreshing to see the ugly side of being a ranger; I had considered this as a possible next career and sometimes I day dream of the more idyllic ideas of rangering. This is a nice balance.

I see that most readers gave this book more stars, but I found it depressing and a bleak take on what goes on within National Parks. It's a good thing this author got out of the Ranger business since she can't seem to see the beauty of wilderness for all the death and trauma witnessed in Parks. Surely some nice things happened during her career, but you won't read about them here.
Also, the chapters are not well connected - the book reads like a series of short, tragic essays.