Arguing that the history of walking includes walking for pleasure as well as for political, aesthetic, and social meaning, Solnit focuses on the walkers whose everyday and extreme acts have shaped our culture, from philosophers to poets to mountaineers. full of beautiful aphorisms and leaps of imagination, a scholarship of evocation rather than definition.A passionate, thought-provoking exploration of walking as a political and cultural activity, from the author of Orwell's Rosesĭrawing together many histories-of anatomical evolution and city design, of treadmills and labyrinths, of walking clubs and sexual mores-Rebecca Solnit creates a fascinating portrait of the range of possibilities presented by walking. “Rich with brilliant observaiton and detail. “An erudite history of walking studded with arresting insights.” Wanderlust is an anecdotal On the Road, a rambling woman's paean to the mind-body connection.”

An entertaining and utterly compelling read, filled with facts and observations, written with elegance and eloquence.” “Solnit's thoughtful, thought-provoking, and delightful exploration of the seemingly mndane topic of walking offers an abundance of new ways to think.

“ words remind us of walking's simple joy and return us to a time when an aimless contemplative stroll was a daily activity, not a guilty pleasure.” “ a rigorous polymath capable of stunning flashes of original thought. a writer of unflagging grace, has a remarkable ability to wrest meaning from the mundane.” she has a fine sense of paradoz that keeps her from prosletyzing. Solnit's is a sinuous course propelled by abandon yet guided by a firm intelligence. joyfully trespasses across disciplines and genres, tracing a path through philosophy, paleontology, politics, religion, and literary criticism.” Solnit argues for the necessity of preserving the time and space in which to walk in our ever more car-dependent and accelerated world. She profiles some of the most significant walkers in history and fiction-from Wordsworth to Gary Snyder, from Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet to Andre Breton's Nadja-finding a profound relationship between walking and thinking and walking and culture. A passionate, thought-provoking exploration of walking as a political and cultural activity, from the author of Orwell's Rosesĭrawing together many histories-of anatomical evolution and city design, of treadmills and labyrinths, of walking clubs and sexual mores-Rebecca Solnit creates a fascinating portrait of the range of possibilities presented by walking.

Wanderlust by rebecca solnit