DOC · READER Wanderlust A History of Walking

TEXT Wanderlust A History of Walking

DOC · READER Wanderlust A History of Walking ë [BOOKS] ✬ Wanderlust A History of Walking Author Rebecca Solnit – Gym-apparel.co.uk This volume provides a history of walking exploring the relationship between thinking and walking and between walking and culture The author argues for the preservation of the time and space in G and walking and between walking and culture The author argues for the preservation This was my second time reading this book and I feel as ambivalent about it as I did the first time through There is just so much in here that it feels a bit overwhelming Here are two of the notes I made while reading June 9 First chapter was about philosophers and walking A bit dull Second was about how and why humans began to walk in the first place and the debate was still raging at the time she wrote That was interesting Now I am on a chapter about pilgrimages which is another type of walking altogether And she complains that at a slow pace or just standing still her feet hurt I hear you girl The hardest thing to do is walk at someone else's slower paceJune 12 Chapters on walking and philosophy Chapters on how we began to walk in the first place and what it meant Chapters on pilgrimages Chapters on Wordsworth and the beginning of walking as a leisure activity And yet another chapter about Wordsworth who seems to have been responsible for many things regarding that movement But honestly it is all a bit dryI am a walker Have been since I was a kid and used to zip down to the corner store on Sundays to buy a paper and lug it home Three mile round trip and wonderful fun Since then I have walked many miles for fun in competitions to explore and to keep myself healthyAnd while I can appreciate the author's general idea here it was very hard to slog through all the information she shared It was like doing a 6 Day Ultramarathon in an area where the course is a little rockier than is good for you At first you try to miss the stones but after a time you are tired and end up stomping on them every few strides It hurts It's work And I don't always like to work when I'm walking or when I'm reading I have to be in the proper frame of mind to exercise my brain as much as I needed to do for this book So if I wait until Someday when I am feeling scholarly and intellectual and high browed would I like this better? I did enjoy seeing names of some authors I recognized and others who are on my reading lists This is a very literary walking book tracing the history of walking by the writing that has been done about it over the centuries I cannot imagine the amount of research it took to dig up all of this information and tie it all together So kudos to Solnit for the work And thanks are due also because I have been introduced to Dorothy Wordsworth William's sister who kept journals of all the walking she did Apparently he swiped many ideas and images from her pages for his poetry and even though I am not as familiar with his work as I probably should be if I were a true intellectual I am very interested to read Dorothy's journals and see if I can recognize anything there I also appreciated the introduction to New York poet Frank O'Hara and I have his poems on my lists now too So I feel I did get some rewards for keeping myself staggering along to the finish line here Well almost to the end my feet and my brain hurt too much to face the rocky fields of those last few chapters Maybe Someday I'll give this book one walk through Or I might just send it off on a walkabout of its own We'll see

MOBI Ï Wanderlust A History of Walking ✓ Rebecca Solnit

This volume provides a history of walking exploring the relationship between thinkin Expansive and engaging Rebecca Solnit’s Wanderlust explores the history of walking in the West Starting with Rousseau and the Romantics Solnit argues walking became self conscious and against the backdrop of the French Revolution and industrialization the act started to accrue dynamic democratic and subversive cultural meanings it had never before held in Western societies The author historicizes walking as a conscious cultural act and considers the many forms the act takes today from pilgrimages and marches to walkathons and urban strolls; simultaneously she politicizes the experience of walking uestioning how it’s impacted by the walker’s social identities All the while the author analyzes the literature of walking and reviews the role walking played in the lives of famous thinkers and activists While packed with information Solnit’s prose is lyrical and moving her work associative in structure and easy to read

Rebecca Solnit ✓ Wanderlust A History of Walking EBOOK

Wanderlust A History of WalkingOf the time and space in which to walk in an ever car dependent and accelerated wor I know I gave this five stars but I do have to get my one problem with this book out of the way Wanderlust in all that it manages to cover does not even mention Japanese haibun a literary form that merges short prose and haiku This is important because many of these writings came out of long walking tours and travel accounts Not mentioning Basho's Narrow Road to the Interior seems a crime to meThat omission out of the way I can still say that this is a terrific book covering a lot of ground surprising even to me as a walker From the English walking gardens to Las Vegas' disappearing public space Solnit manages to weave history literature politics and on the subject of walkingSolnit shows that walking was than a mode of transportation back then but part of the method of meditation and rumination for many philosophers writers and artists; a form of protest; and the way one most intensely experiences the world She also looks at the politics of walking and argues persuasively that walking has been denigrated over the years and much rests on the fight not only for public space but for the time to pursue this simple but important actBut Wanderlust is not a manifesto It is filled with fascinating stories about the people and places where this history continues to be written And even for me one who has found great value in the simple walk has inspired me to make it not just part of the exercise routine but an integral part of lifestyle