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  • The Compleat Angler

  • By: Izaak Walton
  • Narrated by: Alex Warner
  • Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (13 ratings)
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The Compleat Angler cover art

The Compleat Angler

By: Izaak Walton
Narrated by: Alex Warner
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Editor reviews

Before there was Norman McLean's A River Runs Through It, there was Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler. The subtitle of Walton's classic 17th-century "discourse" on fish and fishing is "The Contemplative Man's Recreation", and for good reason. At turns mirthful, lofty, poetic, and didactic, Angler is a marvelous mixture of instruction manual, dialogue, and work of art.

The audiobook requires a classic British voice, and Alex Warner delivers with a pitch-perfect performance. His noble accent seems to emerge from centuries past, and a listener has never heard a more genteel voice discuss frogs and worms with utter earnestness.

Summary

The Complete Angler has been in print for over 350 years. Just a how-to book on fishing would not have created such a popular work. Walton's comments on how to catch and prepare numerous varieties of fish create a pleasant leisure read for any fisherman. His anecdotes are as fresh and contemporary today as they were in his century.

Public Domain (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

First published in 1653, Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler celebrates the art and spirit of fishing in prose and verse. Walton infused his work with anecdotes and commentaries on catching and preparing everything from carp to trout, chub to pike. This modern Ecco Press edition is enhanced with a new introduction by Thomas McGuane and illustrations by Arthur Rackham. The Compleat Angler is as fresh and relevant today as it was two and a half centuries ago. The Compleat Angler continues to be "must" reading for every new generation of fishermen (and fisher women!) who have ever picked up a pole, line and lure to set forth on one of human kind's oldest pastimes -- fishing. ( Midwest Book Review)

What listeners say about The Compleat Angler

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    5 out of 5 stars
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The joy of fishing is eternal through the ages

A wonderful book. Thoughtful and so elegantly spoken. Whether you are an avid fisherman or a enjoy the outdoors and appreciate the friendship of good companions which shines out from every page of the book - I would recommend you give it a listen. It is absolutely amazing that the book was originally written over 350 years ago.

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Did no one think of finding out pronounciation?

Walton constantly repeats the Latin words "piscator" and "venator" ( fisher and hunter) and the reader consistently mispronounced them. Shameful.

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