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The Path: A One-Mile Walk Through the Universe
by
Chet Raymo
For almost forty years, Chet Raymo has walked a one-mile path from his house to the college where he taught, chronicling the universe he has found through observing every detail of his route with a scientist's curiosity, a historian's respect for the past, and a child's capacity for wonder. With each step, the landscape he traversed became richer, suggesting deeper and dee...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
March 28th 2004
by Walker & Company
(first published 2003)
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It is said that Thoreau carried two notebooks with him when he walked around his beloved New England. One notebook was to record things he saw in nature and the other for the poetry he was inspired to write. There were times when he encountered something that thrilled him so, he wouldn't know which notebook to record it in. In other words, nature itself is sheer poetry.
Flash forward 150 years to Chet Raymo, retired physics and astronomy professor from Stonehill College in Massachusetts. Born in...more
Flash forward 150 years to Chet Raymo, retired physics and astronomy professor from Stonehill College in Massachusetts. Born in...more
The Path: A One-Mile Walk Through the Universe, by Chet Raymo, is one of the most fascinating books you'll ever read. Chet Raymo is a scientist, a thinker and a consummate inquirer. Everything excites him, draws his attention and I suspect threatens to distract him from his real job as professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Stonehill College. Every morning, he walks to work along a course that covers approximately one mile. Having the type of mind he has, he can't help but muse over ever...more
This seems to be a theme these days, but ...
This book wasn't what I expected it to be. The cover blurb says "For nearly forty years, Chet Raymo has walked a one-mile path from his house in North Easton, Massachusetts, to the Stonehill College campus where he has taught physics and astronomy. The woods, meadows, and stream he passes are as familiar to him as his own backyard, yet each day he finds something new. 'Every pebble and wildflower has a story to tell', Raymo says."
From that, I thought...more
So, it's a pretty fast read and it offers some interesting facts about how everything is connected by atoms and molecules, but nothing profound. Don't get me wrong, I liked the book, but not for it's scientific analyses or products. The author gives a great historical overview of the location (North Easton in Boston) and then ties it to cosmic and atomic science. It's an interesting perspective and enjoyable, but not for readers who want great depth in facts. I like to think of it as a book that...more
The concept for this book is delightful, and Chet Raymo executes it with wisdom and grace.
Each day, Raymo walks from his home in North Easton, Mass., to the place he works as a professor, Stonehill College. His trip along this one-mile path takes him past glacial rocks, sandy loam, a brook, grassland, meadows and community gardens.
Like other amateur naturalists who have gone before him, Raymo believes that "A minute lived attentively can contain a millennium; an adequate step can span the plan...more
Each day, Raymo walks from his home in North Easton, Mass., to the place he works as a professor, Stonehill College. His trip along this one-mile path takes him past glacial rocks, sandy loam, a brook, grassland, meadows and community gardens.
Like other amateur naturalists who have gone before him, Raymo believes that "A minute lived attentively can contain a millennium; an adequate step can span the plan...more
This was a lovely book, for the most part, and Mr. Raymo is a very insightful writer. As in Soul of the Night he draws from a lot of sources to tie together his vision of the way things are, and he manages to convey a sense of hope while cataloging the ways in which humanity has altered the landscape - no small feat. But i found myself getting a little bored from time to time, and overall it just didn't wow me the way i wanted it to - the way Soul of the Night did. Good, but a little disappointi...more
I really kind of what to go 3.5 for The Path, but that's not an option, and I worry it is partially because I have read too many of these books now. Seeing the universe in a blade of grass is a tremendous thing, and Raymo's device of using the path to discuss the world works quite well. I just didn't find myself drawn in quite as fully as I have with other books. Still, it's a quick read and worth it. The New England history is interesting.
This book is the true story of Chet Raymo's daily walk to work at Stonehill College, from his nearby home, via "The Path". You will notice details around you that you never did before after you read this book. Beautifully written.
I liked reading about the history of North Easton, Frederick Law Olmsted, and the naturalists Mrs. Dana and Gilbert White. Very readable, even when talking about various aspects of science.
Apr 01, 2010
Converse
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science,
non-fiction
How the flora, fauna, rocks, water on a trail through the former Ames estate (a fortune built on shovels) relate to energy use, biodiversity, glaciation, and the development of intelligent life
A scientific study of the effects of local history on the ecology of the author's one mile walk to work from his small town hone to the university where he is a professor of physics.
Structured around one mans 1 mile path to his job, Raymo intersperses history of place, science and environmentalism into this lovely book perfect for lazy summer afternoon reading.
The Path is a one-mile walk from the author's home in North Easton, Mass. to the Sonehill College Campus. It chronicles the universe he has found by closely obsertving every detail of his route. For those of us who are trained observers of children, systems change, or history, this is an humbling experience.
I read this to add to my understanding/appreciation of the natural world.
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Chet Raymo (born September 17, 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee) is a noted writer, educator and naturalist. He is Professor Emeritus of Physics at Stonehill College, in Easton, Massachusetts. His weekly newspaper column Science Musings appeared in the Boston Globe for twenty years, and his musings can still be read online at www.sciencemusings.com.
His most famous book was the novel entitled The Do...more
More about Chet Raymo...
His most famous book was the novel entitled The Do...more
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Jan 11, 2013 10:32am