A Philosophy of Walking
Verso Books · Print & ebook · July 11, 2023
A Philosophy pick for readers exploring A Philosophy of Walking.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- A contemplative companion for anyone following Gros into walking, thinking, and the shape of a life.
- Genres
- Philosophy Writing, Walking, Travel Writing
- Published
- Verso Books, July 11, 2023
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
NietzscheStefan Zweig, Will Stone51% match
The Ethics of AmbiguitySimone de Beauvoir, Bernard Frechtman46% match
At the Existentialist CaféSarah Bakewell, Antonia Beamish60% match
The Need for RootsSimone Weil, Ros Schwartz57% match
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
This “passionate affirmation of the simple life, and joy in simple things” explores how walking influenced history’s greatest thinkers—from Henry David Thoreau and Jack Kerouac to Gandhi and Nietzsche (Observer). In this French bestseller, leading thinker and philosopher Frédéric Gros charts the many different ways we get from A to B—the pilgrimage, the promenade, the protest march, the nature ramble—and reveals what they say about us.
Continue reading
Gros draws attention to other thinkers who also saw walking as something central to their practice. On his travels he ponders Thoreau’s 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.
Walking Thoughts
A contemplative companion for anyone following Gros into walking, thinking, and the shape of a life.
Come here for
- walking as thought, not exercise
- the slow, reflective register
Expect
- layered reflection
- philosophical asides with a literary tread
Where it sits
| Philosophy Writing | 59% |
|---|---|
| Walking | 50% |
| Travel Writing | 43% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Humanism
- Mind & Body
- Travel Writing
- Authors
- Frédéric Gros, John Howe
- Publisher
- Verso Books
- Published
- July 11, 2023
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Humanism