Book Review: A Philosophy of Walking

April 15 2017:

A Philosophy of Walking

This was one of those books that chose me. I wasn’t at the library, nor a book store, just getting a cup of coffee in the lodge and there it was … front and center in the newly begun resident lending library ..

If I had time and space I’d most likely quote more than half the book! Yet, here’s a wee bit …

“Walking is the best way to go more slowly than any other method that has ever been found. To walk, you need to start with two legs. The rest is optional. If you want to go faster, then don’t walk, do something else: drive, slide or fly. Don’t walk. And when you are walking, there is only one sort of performance that counts: the brilliance of the sky, the splendour of the landscape.

The Native American regarded the Earth itself as a sacred source of energy. ……. The Lakota was a true Naturist – a lover of Nature. He loved the earth and all things of the earth ….

….. walking is movement, the heart beats more strongly, with a more ample beat, the blood circulates faster and more powerfully than when the body is at rest.

Landscapes summon the walker and make him at home: the hills, the colours, the trees all confirm it. The charm of a twisting path among hills, the beauty of vine fields in autumn, like purple and gold scarves, the silvery glitter of olive leaves against a defining summer sky, the immensity of perfectly sliced glaciers … all these things support, transport and nourish us.”

A Philosophy of Walking Book 2017