Man made the brew, but god made the weed!

That comment kinda sums up this book.

For the very first time in my life, I listened to an Audiobook. A little trial and error to see if it is something I would like as I am one of those controversial people who think Audiobooks don’t count to your read tally / goal.

Five Hours North by Ty Kearns was my test dummy. I got 65% of the way through before I turned it off and if I am honest I don’t think I would have got that far if I had physically read it.

This book just was not for me. I guess if you are really interested in the topic of growing weed, then you would enjoy this book… otherwise IMO it is a give or take that ended up a DNF one my list!

I felt the author was trying to make pot growing sexy and it read more like a work of fiction, a Hollywood movie.

I didn't know anything about this book or its author before picking it up. I just needed a memoir to add to my list of nonfiction reads.

However, after reading this, I think maybe it's crafted of more fiction than nonfiction. Less memoir, and more make-believe. I imagine the author wanted to tell a tale. He did.

The confrontation with the mountain lion is a good example of the melding of fact and fiction. The list of rules is another example. Maybe, perhaps, the truth has been stretched a bit.

The aithor claims he's accepted himself for who he is. Not sure if that's in the book. It's an interesting read, at any rate.

I found myself rather puzzled by this book.
The author was a young man who, "thanks" to an uncle, found himself growing marijuana in the rural mountains of California. Starting out small, he learned the ropes and applied his knowledge to growing a bigger and bigger operation. MUCH BIGGER! A huge operation, dealing in hundreds of pounds of pot. Then, after marijuana was made legal in California, he transitioned to a legal grow operation. As of 2024, his production area is 54,000 feet! And he harvests plants 49 times a year! With 80 full time employees. Quite a roller coaster ride he has experienced in his life.
The story is good. And fun to read. Even if you don't smoke (I don't, and in fact a large part of my career was spent trying to put people like the author in prison), it's an enjoyable romp. You might find yourself daydreaming that you were riding along with the author on some hare-brained scheme, or working in his illegal warehouses in the mountains.
So why am I puzzled? It just seems too incredible to be completely true. I just cannot believe that the author got away with his illegal grow farm for so long. Not at the size it came to be, and what with the DEA and California authorities doing constant surveillance in the air. Perhaps it did happen the way he wrote it. If it did, wow!
Either way, true or embellished, it was a very good read.

Thanks kindly to NetGalley and Disruption Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A really interesting read about the author's experience in cannabis production. I found it quite educational and insightful, and thought it did a good job illustrating how the industry and its players have evolved through time. However, sometimes the writing was a little verbose for my liking.

I can definitely see many people being interested in this book and its topic. All the best to the author!