A Philosophy of Walking

Frederic Gros considers the many ways people walk, among them the pilgrimage, the promenade, the protest march and the nature ramble, and what each reveals about the walker. The philosopher turns to thinkers for whom walking was central to their practice. Thoreau sought seclusion in Walden Woods, Rimbaud walked in a fury and Nerval rambled to ease his melancholy. Rousseau walked in order to think and Nietzsche roamed the mountainside to write, while Kant walked through his hometown at the same hour each day to escape the compulsion of thought. Gandhi and John Muir also appear. It became a best seller in France.

Austin Kleon, in his 2018 reading roundup, called it good while noting that the thinkers in it are overwhelmingly men.