Wanderlust: A History of Walking

…of all places. Nevada is a state one does not normally associate with a “good walk,” spoilt or otherwise. Rebecca Solnit covers a lot of territory, mental as well as geographical, in between her Nevada “bookends.” I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and give credit to Amazon, for suggesting it based on my “search history.”Solnit lives in San Francisco, apparently not far from my daughter, near Golden Gate Park. Both enjoy walking in the most European of American cities. She commences by describing a familiar walk around a headland just north of Golden Gate Bridge, quipping on Heraclitus’s dictum on rivers: you never step onto the same trail twice. On the headland’s walk she relates her work in the ‘80’s, in Nevada, as an anti-nuclear activist, walking near test sites. Such statements as: “… a certain kind of wanderlust can only be assuaged by the acts of the body itself in motion, not the motion of the car, boat or plane,” helped “draw me in.”As the subtitle indicates, it is the “history of walking,” and she does commence at the beginning, when our ancestors came down from the trees, stood upright, perhaps to see better, as they wandered out on the savannah, not to mention being able to carry a few things. She also found resonance in the first line from a book I read so very long ago, Robert Ardrey’s African genesis: A personal investigation into the animal origins and nature of man: “Not in innocence, and not in Asia, was mankind born.” She relates the various theories and academic in-fighting on this issue.Solnit has also lived in rural New Mexico, and although not specifically religious, participated in the pilgrimage to Chimayo. As she says: “…walking cross-country let us be in that nonbeliever’s paradise, nature…” From Chimayo the author segues into other famous pilgrimage routes, such as Santiago de Compostela, where she observes: “When pilgrims begin to walk several things usually begin to happen to their perceptions of the world which continue over the course of the journey: they develop a changing sense of time, a heightening of the senses, and a new awareness of their bodies and the landscape…” I once would rent a holiday home in a small village in Provence, Velleron, and in the local bookstore picked up a copy of DE VELLERON A BETHLEEM which related the 10 month, 4650 kilometer walk of two very real religious pilgrims from that village, Claudia and Robert Mestelan, so they could be in Bethlehem, in the Holy Land, for Christmas, 2000. A remarkable achievement, for a couple in their ‘50’s, one that could not be duplicated today, due to the fighting in Syria.Jean-Jacques Rousseau and William Wordsworth were both practitioners as well as theoreticians of the “art” and necessity of walking. They both claimed to do their best thinking while in motion. They were the godfathers of those who now walk for pleasure and not of necessity. Solnit covers numerous other authors, and has added to my list of “must read” books with the likes of John Muir’s A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, and the one she proclaims to be here favorite mountain memoir, Smoke Blanchard’s Walking Up and Down in the World : Memories of a Mountain Rambler.Men and women are not equal when it comes to walking. The author devotes an entire chapter to that issue, starting with the horrific treatment of Caroline Wyburgh, age 19, who went out walking in Chatham, England, in 1870. Women must always carry a baggage of “considerations” that do not encumber a man when taking a stroll.Ah, Paris. It is no surprise that the author has a chapter on walking in the City of Light, as well as exploring the concept of a “flaneur,” one who has the time to wander, and actually observe. Solnit has read much about and concerning the city, and concludes: “Such a density of literature had accumulated in Paris by the time of Nightwood (New Edition) that one pictures characters from centuries of literature crossing paths constantly, crowding each other, a Metro car full of heroines, a promenade populated by the protagonists of novels, a rioting mob of minor characters.” Soon thereafter, Solnit is in the antithesis of Paris, with its faux-this and faux-that, Las Vegas, and astutely notes how this city that represented the triumph of car-culture has become a place of strollers on “The Strip” due to the traffic jams.The only error that I noted was on p. 134, where the poet Petrarch climbed Mt. Ventoux in 1335. The mountain is in France, and not Italy, as stated. Nonetheless, my personal standard for measuring the excellence of a book are the number of passages I have marked. A quick review indicates such marks on almost every other page. Solid thoughts, and witty aphorisms. A great book that will be referenced numerous times, and deserving of that special 6-star rating.

I am a very big fan of Rebecca Solnit. I find her writing and thinking to be invariably provocative. While I enjoyed this, and she certainly seems to get more out of her walks than I do, I do not think it is up to the level of some of her other books, particularly River of Shadows and A Paradise Made in Hell. She covers a lot of ground in this book and is able to write on the topic from more angles than I thought possible. She explores the connection between walking and thinking, in a chapter entitled The Mind at Three Miles an Hour; reviews the literature surrounding walking in another chapter; devotes a chapter to walking in Paris; another to marching and protesting in the streets, and in a chapter called Walking after Midnight, looks at the issues associated with women and walking in public space. The book has a unique feature that I have not seen used elsewhere. The bottom of every page has a quote related to walking and these quotes scroll throughout the book. It can be distracting if you try to read them as you are also reading the book, but it is worth it to take a break between chapters and go back and read through them every 40 pages or so. I honestly recommend Rebecca Solnit to everyone. If you enjoy walking, you might as well start here.

I have very much enjoyed delving into Ms. Solnit’s work. Her prose has a meditative quality which speaks to me. There is an appealing streak of loneliness, wandering & self-searching that runs though the books of hers that I’ve read. That streak continues in this book, subtitled “A History of Walking”.For most of history, the primary purpose of walking has been transportation. Ms. Solnit’s analysis, however, focuses on the various transitions of walking from transportation to observation to meditation. That can be as simple as the use of walking as an excuse to get out and observe nature or, perhaps more importantly, other people. That can be as complex as turning a “walk” like Jesus’ Way of the Cross into a universal mediation that has found its way into the stations that can be found in churches around the work. Places like the Lake District, the Alps & Paris have been hearts of the walking urge, and gardens and labyrinths have been created as places of meditative walking.As usual, Ms. Solnit delves deep into her subject. She analyzes the history but is also able to connect with something deeper in herself and in her reader. Apart from the distracting scroll of quotations at the bottom of the pages, the pages flow with a quiet, readable energy. I have never been disappointed in one of Ms. Solnit’s books and this one is another gem.

An absorbing book about the history and value of walking.

"Wanderlust" is a German word meaning "joy of walking". Nowhere in the book could the joy of walking be found. Solnit creates a thin trail that connects walking with philosophy, politics, revolution, sexism, prostitution, and literature. Her disjointed rambles sidestep the topic with dull, uninteresting anecdotes that dissuaded this reader from turning the pages.But there are pleasant intervals. The most interesting parts of the book are when Solnit writes of her walking experiences. Her first person narratives draw the reader into a lively cadence when she describes her inner-city walks in San Francisco, her pilgrimage to Chimayo and her people-watching jaunt along the Las Vegas Strip.Solnit is a gifted writer who is extremely fluent. It's unfortunate that she ambled about unrelated activities and chose the experiences and words of others when she could write much more interestingly about her own walks. As an avid walker, I was disappointed with her book.

Lo he recibido en perfecto estado pero la sorpresa desagradable ha sido el tamaño de la letra. Ha sido abrirlo y darme cuenta que ni de broma voy a leerme un libraco de casi 300 páginas con la letra tan pequeña. Es incomodísimo. No creo que pueda devolverlo porque tengo que pagar el envío, lo revenderé por otro lado. Una lástima.

Excellent book about something we all --and always-- do and never think about it.

Livre arrivé rapidement et en parfait état.

Reading some of the reviews by other readers, I wonder if they understood that, as is stated on the cover, this is a History of Walking. I find it funny that some people complain about getting MORE than they asked for. Solnit discusses walking from many perspectives: anthropological, social, political, literary, and more. Her accounts are deeply thought out, well sourced, and enlightening. This has immediately become one of my absolutely favorite books.I would advise future readers to ignore to the quotations running along the bottom of the pages until they have finished the actual text, OR to read them before reading the text. Otherwise they are too distracting and take the reader away from the page currently being read. It's delightful to read them in one go.

Very interesting book, beautifully written.