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Ryan Benz

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Reviewed

Read Time

8 min read

Age & reading levelAdult
Reader rating
4.6 · 1,279 Amazon ratings
reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
$14.99 on Amazon
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Front cover of Wander: A Memoir of Letting go

Our review

Wander

Wander: A Memoir of Letting Go by Ryan Benz Review: A Grounded Appalachian Trail Memoir of Reinvention

by Ryan Benz

Ryan Benz's Wander: A Memoir of Letting Go is a B.R.A.G. Medallion Award-winning memoir in which Benz chronicles his decision to abandon a hollow but outwardly successful life and walk over two thousand miles along the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. It is a searching account of physical endurance and self-discovery, written for readers who feel the pull of a different, more deliberate way of living.

$14.99 on Amazon
Adult

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Readers in their thirties or forties who feel the gap between outward achievement and inner fulfillment, are drawn to the Appalachian Trail as a setting, and came to the memoir genre through books like Wild or Eat, Pray, Love.

Worth it if

You're at a genuine crossroads between a "successful" life and a meaningful one, and you want both a vivid account of a 2,000-mile solo trek and a meditative invitation to interrogate your own path.

Skip if

You prefer memoirs shaped by sharp literary craft, narrative distance, or a wide social and environmental canvas — this book's sustained first-person introspection and familiar transformation arc (outward success, inner emptiness, wilderness revelation) are features of its design, not departures from it.

Independent Book Review positioned Wander alongside celebrated adventure memoirs like Wild and Eat, Pray, Love, noting that its life lessons and self-transformation encourage readers to take time to wander in their own way. Retailer and editorial descriptions across multiple sources — including booksamillion.com and bookshop.org — consistently characterize the memoir as "raw and authentic" and an "encouraging read for the dreamer in each of us," with bookshop.org also confirming its B.R.A.G. Medallion Award winner status.

Sources: Independent Book Review, Books-A-Million, Bookshop.org
4.6from 1,279 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

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Wander: A Memoir of Letting Go is Ryan Benz's account of walking more than two thousand miles on the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine — a physical and spiritual reckoning with the gap between outward success and inner meaning. A B.R.A.G. Medallion Award winner praised for its raw, authentic tone, it earns strong comparisons to Wild and Eat, Pray, Love and will resonate most with readers at a crossroads or drawn to deliberate-living philosophy. The key caveat: the transformation arc — hollow success, wilderness journey, restored purpose — follows a well-established genre template, so readers seeking an unconventional narrative shape may find the trajectory familiar.
Is it worth reading?
Wander earns its place in Appalachian Trail literature through candor rather than spectacle, and its B.R.A.G. Medallion recognition signals genuine quality among independently published titles. Its dual register — confessional memoir and broader inspiration — is a structural strength that Independent Book Review called 'an encouraging read for the dreamer in each of us,' and the specific Georgia-to-Maine framework gives the self-discovery arc a concrete, sustained shape. The main caveat is that the transformation template (outward success, inner emptiness, wilderness revelation) is well-worn in this genre, so readers seeking a more unconventional narrative shape may find the trajectory familiar. For the right reader — someone at a crossroads, drawn to the Appalachian Trail, or already engaged with titles like Wild — it is a resonant and purposeful read.
Similar books
Readers drawn to Wander will find strong company in the curated titles below. Hello My Name is Sharkbait: A 2,000-Mile Adventure on the Appalachian Trail by Michael Neiman shares the same trail and mile-count, making it a natural companion read. For the broader 'leave it all behind and find yourself' memoir strand, Glennon Doyle's Untamed — with its unflinching examination of authenticity and self-reinvention — is the closest thematic match. Melissa L. Cook's The Call of the Last Frontier and Ellen Barone's I Could Live Here both speak to the impulse to trade conventional life for a more deliberate existence in a wild setting. And for readers interested in the raw, confessional register of a life examined honestly, Matthew Perry's Friends, Lovers and the Big, Terrible Thing offers a very different backdrop but a similarly unflinching personal reckoning.
Who should read this?
Wander is designed, as LuvemBooks' assessment notes, for readers who feel the tension between external achievement and internal fulfillment — what the book frames as the gap between a 'successful' life and a meaningful one. It will resonate particularly with those at a crossroads, those drawn to the Appalachian Trail as a setting, and readers who entered the genre through titles like Wild. As a meditation on purpose, authenticity, and intentionality, it also suits readers interested in the philosophy of deliberate living, not just the physical logistics of long-distance hiking. Readers who prefer memoirs built around sharp literary craft, narrative distance, or a wide cast of characters, or who come to the genre seeking sociological or environmental breadth, are not the primary audience.
About Ryan Benz
Ryan Benz is a New Jersey-based author, speaker, and mindfulness teacher. After hiking more than 2,000 miles on the Appalachian Trail, he channeled that experience into Wander: A Memoir of Letting Go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life. He uses adventure storytelling to teach mindfulness for schools, organizations, and through mentorship.
What are the main themes?
Wander centres on purpose, authenticity, and intentionality — the tension between a life that looks successful from the outside and one that feels meaningful from within. Benz also explores the nature of adventure and self-discovery, framing the Appalachian Trail not as escape but as a return to a truer self. A secondary but structural theme is the invitation to deliberate living: the book is designed not only as personal confession but as a roadmap for readers to interrogate their own paths, closing the gap between external achievement and internal fulfillment.
What is the B.R.A.G. Medallion?
The B.R.A.G. Medallion is an award given to independently published books that meet the organization's quality standard — it exists specifically to recognize excellence in the self-published and small-press space, where titles do not go through traditional publishing gatekeepers. Wander's status as a B.R.A.G. Medallion winner is cited in LuvemBooks' assessment as a meaningful marker of recognized quality for an independently published title. It signals that the memoir has cleared an external editorial bar beyond the author's own judgment.
Summarize this book

Summarize this book

By his early thirties, Ryan Benz had built a conventionally successful life yet felt, as the record states, empty, exhausted, and dissatisfied. His response was to leave that life behind and walk more than two thousand miles along the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, and Wander is the account of that journey — both the physical demands and the interior reckoning it produced. Published in September 2023 by Permission to Dream Publishing, the memoir frames the trek not as escape but as a return, with Benz moving closer, mile by mile, to what he describes as his true self. Beyond the personal confession, the book doubles as a broader invitation, serving — in the publisher's framing — as a roadmap for readers to examine the potential within themselves and choose the path truest to their own being.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest by Cheryl Strayed

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest by Cheryl Strayed

4.5

/ 5

Cheryl Strayed's memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail recounts her 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995 — a journey undertaken at age 26, with no prior hiking experience, as an act of self-rescue after her mother's death, the collapse of her marriage, and a descent into heroin use. It reached No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list, was the inaugural selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0, and spent 52 weeks on the NPR Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller List — a record of cultural impact matched by its literary reputation.

View on LuvemBooks →

Wander: A Memoir of Letting go by Ryan Benz

Wander: A Memoir of Letting go by Ryan Benz

4.6

/ 5

Ryan Benz's Wander: A Memoir of Letting Go is a B.R.A.G. Medallion Award-winning memoir in which Benz chronicles his decision to abandon a hollow but outwardly successful life and walk over two thousand miles along the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. It is a searching account of physical endurance and self-discovery, written for readers who feel the pull of a different, more deliberate way of living.

View on LuvemBooks →

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Our Review

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A B.R.A.G. Medallion Award winner, Wander is a memoir—not a novel—rooted in one man's actual journey on foot from Georgia to Maine, and it earns its place in the tradition of Appalachian Trail literature through candor rather than spectacle.

What the Book Actually Is

Back cover with synopsis, memoir description, black-and-white photograph, and barcode.
Back cover with synopsis, memoir description, black-and-white photograph, and barcode.
By his early thirties, Ryan Benz had assembled the markers of a conventional success story, yet found himself, as the record states, empty, exhausted, and dissatisfied. Wander is the account of what he chose to do about it: leave that life behind and walk more than two thousand miles along the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine.
Published in September 2023 by Permission to Dream Publishing, the memoir traces both the physical demands of that journey and the interior reckoning it produced. Benz frames the trek not as an escape but as a return — with each mile traveled, he writes, he moved closer to what he describes as his true self.
The book covers the nature of adventure, self-discovery, and the question of what it means to follow one's heart.

Its Place in the Genre

The memoir sits squarely within the tradition of solo-trek transformation narratives — a genre that includes widely read titles such as Wild and Eat, Pray, Love. Independent Book Review drew that comparison explicitly, positioning Wander as a title for readers drawn to adventure memoirs with a strong introspective current.
What distinguishes it within that company is its specific Appalachian Trail setting and its sustained focus on purpose, authenticity, and intentionality — themes that give the book a more meditative quality than a pure physical-challenge narrative. The B.R.A.G. Medallion, awarded to independently published books that meet the organization's quality standard, marks it as a recognized title in the self-published and small-press space.

Strengths: Rawness and Dual Function

The book's most noted quality, across multiple retailer and editorial descriptions, is its tone: the memoir is characterized as raw and authentic. Benz does not present the Appalachian Trail as a triumphant adventure so much as a vehicle for hard questions about meaning and identity — questions rooted in a specific, credible mid-life dissonance that many readers will recognize.
Beyond the personal narrative, the book is designed to do something additional: as the publisher's synopsis puts it, while telling one man's quest for meaning, Wander also serves as a roadmap, inviting readers to examine the potential within themselves and choose the path truest to their own being. That dual register — confessional memoir and broader inspiration — is a genuine structural strength, and it is what Independent Book Review called an encouraging read for the dreamer in each of us.

Limitations and Reader Fit

The very qualities that give Wander its appeal also define its boundaries. Readers who prefer memoirs built around sharp literary craft, narrative distance, or a wide cast of characters may find the book's first-person introspective focus narrow by design.
The memoir is explicitly written for those who dream of leaving conventional life behind; readers firmly satisfied with that life, or who come to the genre seeking sociological or environmental breadth over personal transformation, are not the primary audience. Some readers may also note that the transformation arc — successful life feels hollow, wilderness journey restores meaning — is a familiar one in this genre.
Whether Benz's specific voice and trail experience distinguish it sufficiently from comparable titles is a question individual readers will weigh for themselves.

Who Should Read It

Wander is designed for readers who feel the tension between external achievement and internal fulfillment — what the book frames as the gap between a "successful" life and a meaningful one. It will resonate particularly with those at a crossroads, those drawn to the Appalachian Trail as a setting, and those who found their way into the genre through titles like Wild.
As a meditation on purpose, authenticity, and intentionality, it also suits readers interested in the philosophy of deliberate living, not just the physical logistics of long-distance hiking. For that audience, the memoir offers both a vivid account of one specific journey and an invitation to interrogate their own.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

  1. Cited in this review
  2. 1
    Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life

    bookshop.org

  3. Further reading
  4. 2
    Wander by Ryan Benz

    booksamillion.com

  5. 3
    Book Review: Wander by Ryan Benz

    independentbookreview.com

  6. 4
    Wander — A Memoir by Ryan Benz | Official Book Page

    ryanbenz.com

  7. 5
    Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life by Ryan Benz, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®

    barnesandnoble.com

Age & Reading Level

Recommended age

Adult

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Skip if you prefer memoirs with a wide cast of characters, narrative distance, or sociological and environmental breadth over personal transformation.

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Books like Wander

Curated picks for readers who enjoyed Wander, with our reasoning for each match.

If you liked Wander

In our catalogue

Hello My Name is Sharkbait: A 2,000-Mile Adventure on the Appalachian Trail

Michael Neiman

Same trail, same Georgia-to-Maine scope — but lighter in tone, giving you the Appalachian Trail experience from a wry, self-deprecating angle.

Neiman hikes the same two-thousand-mile corridor Benz walks, so the landmarks, the trail culture, and the physical grind overlap almost mile for mile. Where Wander leans into spiritual reckoning, Sharkbait leans into humor and the absurdity of life among thru-hikers, making it a great companion read or a lighter entry point into AT memoirs. Readers who loved the trail detail but want a breezier emotional register will find it here.

In our catalogue

Wild

Cheryl Strayed

The definitive long-trail memoir of grief and reinvention — shares Wander's solo-journey-as-self-reckoning structure and raw emotional honesty.

In our catalogue

Untamed

Glennon Doyle

No trail, but the same core question: what do you sacrifice when you choose a life that actually fits you? Sharp, confessional, and propulsive.

In our catalogue

One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

Richard Louis Proenneke

Voluntary withdrawal from modern success into raw wilderness — quieter and more practical than Wander, but the deliberate-living philosophy runs just as deep.

In our catalogue

I Could Live Here: A Travel Memoir of Home and Belonging

Ellen Barone

Sustained slow travel as a search for belonging — overlaps with Wander's deliberate-living themes for readers drawn to place-as-identity questions.

Not your thing?

On Amazon

Eat, Pray, Love

Elizabeth Gilbert

If the wilderness-as-therapy arc felt predictable, Gilbert's version trades trail miles for Italy, India, and Bali — same journey shape, far more varied scenery and cultural texture.