false 78287 7 The ability to walk on two legs over long distances distinguishes <I>Homo sapiens</I> from other primates, and indeed from every other species on earth. That ability has also yielded some of the best creative work of our species: the lyrical ballads of the English romantic poets, composed on long walks over hill and dale; the speculations of the peripatetic philosophers; the meditations of footloose Chinese and Japanese poets; the exhortations of Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman.<p> Rebecca Solnit, a thoughtful writer and spirited walker, takes her readers on a leisurely journey through the prehistory, history, and natural history of bipedal motion. Walking, she observes, affords its practitioners an immediate reward--the ability to observe the world at a relaxed gait, one that allows us to take in sights, sounds, and smells that we might otherwise pass by. It provides a vehicle for much-needed solitude and private thought. For the health-minded, walking affords a low-impact and usually pleasant way of shedding a few pounds and stretching a few muscles. It is an essential part of the human adventure--and one that has, until now, been too little documented.<p> Written in a time when landscapes and cities alike are designed to accommodate automobiles and not pedestrians, Solnit's extraordinary book is an enticement to lace up shoes and set out on an aimless, meditative stroll of one's own. <I>--Gregory McNamee</I> 1419449 2000 Wanderlust: A History of Walking total:257|5:79|4:93|3:62|2:19|1:4| 257 995 635 59 3 1 false false Fri Apr 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 15 18:21:17 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 05 19:23:04 -0700 2008 Wanderlust strives to a be historical examination of walking, it seems to me more an extended essay (in the French meaning of the term 'to try' as an English professor once explained). However, suc...more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Jan 03 12:52:53 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 03 12:53:25 -0800 2008
For those of you who don't know me as well as you think you do, I'll start by saying that I have never owned a car, and have not been behind the wheel of one in over 12 years; I bicycle in nice weather but my preferred mode of transportation is walking.

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"The body presented to us in these hundreds of volumes and essays [of postmodern theory], this passive body for which sexuality and biological function are the only signs of life, ...more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Jan 25 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Oct 22 17:03:07 -0700 2007 Tue Mar 04 20:33:35 -0800 2008
I kept coming back to this route for respite from my work and for my work too, because thinking is generally thought of as doing nothing in a production-oriented culture, and doing nothing is hard to do. It's best done by disguising it as doing something, and the somethi...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Dec 02 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 07 17:36:13 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 07 17:41:48 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 11 09:51:21 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 30 09:51:27 -0700 2008 2 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 11:38:07 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 19 19:12:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Feb 23 13:56:51 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 23 17:11:30 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Fri Oct 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Nov 05 17:57:58 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 17:58:48 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Mon Feb 16 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 18:18:35 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 17:54:42 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu May 15 09:35:09 -0700 2008 Thu May 15 09:40:47 -0700 2008 more...]]>