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Charting the many different ways we get from A to B, the author draws attention to the thinkers who saw walking as a central part of their practice, from Henry David Thoreau to Nietzsche, making us reconsider this everyday activity.
About the author
Frédéric Gros is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris XII and the Institute of Political Studies, Paris. He was the editor of the last lectures of Michel Foucault at the Collège de France. He has written books on psychiatry, law, and war as well as the best-selling Philosophy of Walking. He lives in Paris.
Report
"A passionate affirmation of the simple life, and joy in simple things. And it's beautifully written: clear, simple, precise." - Observer
"Poignant life-stories ... are interspersed with the author's own meditations on walking ... In the way a landscape is gradually absorbed by the long-distance rambler they steadily build into an insistent exhortation: get up, get out and walk!" - Independent
"Life-affirming stuff." - National Geographic Traveler
"Impressive." - Daily Telegraph
"Philosopher Gros ponders walking, that most mundane mode of transportation or exercise, elevating it to its rightful place in inspiring creativity, evoking freedom, and quieting a troubled soul." - Booklist
"This elegant book inspires consideration of an oft-overlooked subject." - Publisher's Weekly
"Frédéric Gros asks why so many of our most productive writers and philosophers - Rousseau, Kant, Rimbaud, Robert Louis Stevenson, Nietzsche, Jack Kerouac - have also been indefatigable walkers ... there are certain magical things that happen on the trail, and Gros is familiar with them. He thinks like a hiker."- Financial Times
"An admirable little book which will delight even the most sedentary."- Le Monde
"An unclassifiable book in which ideas are illuminated by the bright light of the morning."- L'Express
From the Hardcover edition.
