clues in too far to walk book

[thrillchaser]

watched some videos and one gave a quote where forrest says his book has clues.  

'but there are clues in a my new book that can help a person'


madison river shadow 
ten miles- too far to walk

[zaphod73491]

Since both the poem and the map are in TFTW, the book clearly has clues. All of them, in fact. ;-) But aside from those, there is also the unintended hint/clue. Some think it was the exclusion of Canada on the map, but Forrest knew well in advance that Canada wasn't going to be on that map, so that would hardly be unintended.

Like TTOTC, I think TFTW is crammed full of hints.

[Jenny]

Too Far to Walk follows much like the style of The Thrill of the Chase.... it would seem to reason if there are clues (hints) in TTOTC, that aren't deliberately placed, then the same should be true for Too Far To Walk.

@zap... I know Forrest said there was an unintended clue in the book (maybe to promote it).... but do you have an exact source for when it was first stated? I didn't note the source down. Was it just Dal mentioning it as something Forrest said to him, and there isn't an actual statement. Do you remember?


I'm aware of the Moby Dickens Q/A:

Q: How many people have told you they’ve discovered the unintended clue in Too Far to Walk and how many were right?
A: Well I’ve not had anybody tell me the answer to that clue. If you read my preface, it doesn’t take a genius to know what they are talking about. But there are clues in my new book that can help a person.



This answer to me suggests the unintended clue is NOT in the preface. Forrest has heard what people are saying about the Preface, but he said he hadn't anyone who told him the correct clue- this would eliminate the 10 miles as too far to walk to be the unintended clue he is talking about, and others, thought to be in the preface.

Plus, I can't imagine how that can be 'unintended'. It seems a very deliberate use of the phrase 'too far to walk'.

And although he has said it was the map cutting out Canada, that seems like more of a substitute to put the subject to rest.

[zaphod73491]

Hi Jenny: I agree with you that that is exactly what Forrest was referring to when he said "it doesn't take a genius to know what they are talking about" -- the 10 miles mentioned in the Preface. There are a lot of searchers using that as their "Not far, but too far to walk," but I think that's ridiculous. It would totally undercut the intent of Forrest's poem and his claim that EVERYTHING you need to solve the clues is in the poem. If 10 miles was the answer to NF, BTFTW, it would basically be telling all the earliest searchers that they were wasting their time for the first 3 years, because there is no reliable way to extract that distance from the poem.

[zaphod73491]

Hi again, Jenny: " ... but do you have an exact source for when it was first stated? I didn't note the source down. Was it just Dal mentioning it as something Forrest said to him, and there isn't an actual statement. Do you remember?"

Aside from Moby Dickens, which you already mentioned, there is the following from Nine Clues Part 25, where Forrest wrote on 1/19/2014 the following: "I said in an interview that there was a clue in the book, not the preface, that I didn't realize was there until after the book was printed. Some have discovered it already."

Note that as of 11/2/2013, no one had, so some people figured out whatever it is in the intervening 2 1/2 months.

[locolobo]

Feb 6, 2020 20:07:46 GMT -5 zaphod73491 said:

Hi again, Jenny: " ... but do you have an exact source for when it was first stated? I didn't note the source down. Was it just Dal mentioning it as something Forrest said to him, and there isn't an actual statement. Do you remember?"

Aside from Moby Dickens, which you already mentioned, there is the following from Nine Clues Part 25, where Forrest wrote on 1/19/2014 the following: "I said in an interview that there was a clue in the book, not the preface, that I didn't realize was there until after the book was printed. Some have discovered it already."

Note that as of 11/2/2013, no one had, so some people figured out whatever it is in the intervening 2 1/2 months.

I believe it was first mentioned:

10/23/2013 - "There is one clue in this book that is not in the 'Thrill of The Chase'. And I didn't know the clue was in this book until it was printed."             Collected Works bookstore: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsTdZRwnydw&t=312s

[Jenny]

Thanks so much Zap and Loco.....

From those comments it certainly sounds like it is the map. He wrote the book, how could he not 'know' there was a clue in the book until it was printed, except for the map?


So ok, the map is most likely the 'unintended clue'...... but as mentioned, that doesn't mean there aren't other hints/clues in the book that Forrest is aware of.

[goldilocks]

There could be other things that were added last minute that Forrest hadn't seen or approved before it went to the printer. Forrest said that 2 or 3 days before going to the printer he had Dal go to the Madison River to take a photo for the dust jacket and the designer put the shadow across it. Could there be an unintended clue in the photo? Or...maybe it's the belt buckle that the designer added to the frontage piece of the book?

[Jenny]

Great points, goldilocks.....

[thrillchaser]

lots going on here. I get you on the unintended clue not being in the preface. too far to walk can still equal 10 miles and be a hint. or in another thread it is equated to more than a few miles.

so go not far. probably not over 10 miles. but go more than a few.

[zaphod73491]

Feb 7, 2020 7:45:40 GMT -5 Jenny said:

Thanks so much Zap and Loco.....

From those comments it certainly sounds like it is the map. He wrote the book, how could he not 'know' there was a clue in the book until it was printed, except for the map?


So ok, the map is most likely the 'unintended clue'...... but as mentioned, that doesn't mean there aren't other hints/clues in the book that Forrest is aware of.

Jenny, it's not the map. That map went through many back and forth iterations between Benchmark and Forrest: he knew everything that was going to go on it, including the exclusion of Canada.

[Jenny]

....true...so maybe it is something he didn't notice on the map?

goldilocks shared some possible other places for this unintended clue..... what are others?...

Would it be in his writing, where maybe he copy/pasted an article previously written, and didn't realize until after printing that he should have edited something out??

Feb 7, 2020 9:48:23 GMT -5 goldilocks said:

There could be other things that were added last minute that Forrest hadn't seen or approved before it went to the printer. Forrest said that 2 or 3 days before going to the printer he had Dal go to the Madison River to take a photo for the dust jacket and the designer put the shadow across it. Could there be an unintended clue in the photo? Or...maybe it's the belt buckle that the designer added to the frontage piece of the book?

[brianu]

Isnt the publisher Forrest? So,....he write book,.,..then he checks he book,.,.and sennda to he printa, brilliant. But this might make accident argument invalid?

[brianu]

Sorry previously spellchucker.

[me9]

"Well there’s a major clue in the book, but I don’t think it will help you find the treasure chest. I’ll tell you what the clue is. In the back of my book, there’s a map. And I’ve said that the treasure chest is hidden in the Rocky Mountains. Here’s a treasure chest (misspoke- meant map) of the Rocky Mountains. If you knew where the treasure chest is hidden you could find it on this map. But the map stops at Canada. The Rocky’s keep going up there, but I said it’s in the Rocky Mountains, which would include Canada. When this book was printed, I didn’t realize that Benchmark Maps, who made this map, stopped at the Canadian border, so that’s the clue, but I don’t think- it’s not going to help you much."

-Moby Dickens Bookshop 11/2/2013