A Philosophy of Walking

This passionate affirmation of the simple life and joy in simple things explores how walking influenced historys greatest thinkersfrom Henry David Thoreau and Jack Kerouac to Gandhi and Nietzsche (Observer). In this French bestseller leading thinker and philosopher Frdric Gros charts the many different ways we get from A to Bthe pilgrimage the promenade the protest march the nature rambleand reveals what they say about us. Gros draws attention to other thinkers who also saw walking as something central to their practice. On his travels he ponders Thoreaus eager seclusion in Walden Woods; the reason Rimbaud walked in a fury while Nerval rambled to cure his melancholy. He shows us how Rousseau walked in order to think while Nietzsche wandered the mountainside to write. In contrast Kant marched through his hometown every day exactly at the same hour to escape the compulsion of thought. Brilliant and erudite A Philosophy of Walking is an entertaining and insightful manifesto for putting one foot in front of the other.