How I Got This Way

Patrick F. McManus

Nov 2009 · Recorded Books · Narrated by Norman Dietz

About this audiobook

Grab your fishing net and hold on to your funnybone; you’re in for a hilarious romp through the woods with bestselling humorist Patrick McManus. How I Got This Way, McManus’ rib-tickling collection of stories about life in the outdoors, is guaranteed to have you chuckling all the way down the trail.

Join America’s favorite outdoor funnyman and his pals—Retch, Rancid, and Crazy Eddie—on a bumbling expedition into the Idaho Rockies. Along the way, McManus pauses to ponder some important ethical questions. Suppose, for example, you’re hiking in the mountains with your best friend when he is suddenly
attacked by a grizzly bear. Do you a) flee as fast as you can to safety, or b) pause long enough to ask your friend to toss you the car keys? While McManus searches for the answer, he finds time to scare a few fish, burn a campfire dinner, and even take a hike with—ahem—the President of the United States.

“Describing Patrick F. McManus as an outdoor humorist is like saying Mark Twain wrote books about small boys. He is the funniest writer around today—indoors or outdoors.”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution

About the author

Patrick Francis McManus was born in Sandpoint, Idaho on August 25, 1933. He received a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1956 and a master's degree in journalism in 1959 from Washington State College, Pullman. He taught English, creative writing, and journalism at Eastern Washington State College from 1960 until he retirement in 1983. He was a magazine writer. From 1977 to 1982, he was a columnist and associate editor for Field and Stream magazine. From 1982 to 2009, he wrote a monthly humor column called the Last Laugh for Outdoor Life magazine and served as the publication's editor-at-large. His work has also appeared in Reader's Digest, Sports Illustrated, and the New York Times. He published 14 collections of his columns including A Fine and Pleasant Misery and The Horse in My Garage and Other Stories. His other books include Real Ponies Don't Go Oink!, The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw, The Deer on a Bicycle: Excursions into the Writing of Humor, and Whatchagot Stew written with Patricia McManus Gass. He also wrote the Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery series. He died on April 11, 2018 at the age of 84.