The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw

Patrick F. McManus

Nov 2009 · RB Media · Narrated by Norman Dietz

About this audiobook

Patrick McManus, author of How I Got This Way and one of America's favorite humorists, is an impish commentator on the obvious and not so obvious absurdities of modern life. His national best-seller, The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw, is a collection of hilarious short pieces about fishing, its exotic equipment, and activities like "gunkholing." You will learn, for example, that the best way to learn to fish is to build an addition to your house first. It should be big enough to hold all the nifty fishing equipment you will cart home from sporting goods stores and garage sales. McManus cheerfully guides you through the finer points of becoming a skilled garage sale shopper, too. Be prepared to enter a quixotic universe that works according to the laws of "synch" and marvelously loopy chains of cause and effect. The title selection takes place on an ill-fated camping trip; other selections include "Kid Brothers and Their Practical Application," and "As the Worm Squirms."

Ratings and reviews

A great pick me up book, that will be sure to tickle your funny bone.

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.