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Wanderlust: A History of Walking
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This volume provides a history of walking, exploring the relationship between thinking and walking and between walking and culture. The author argues for the preservation of the time and space in which to walk in an ever more car-dependent and accelerated world.
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Paperback, 328 pages
Published
November 1st 2002
by Verso
(first published June 1st 2001)
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Start your review of Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Expansive and engaging, Rebecca Solnit’s Wanderlust explores the history of walking in the West. Starting with Rousseau and the Romantics, Solnit argues, walking became self-conscious, and against the backdrop of the French Revolution and industrialization, the act started to accrue dynamic, democratic, and subversive cultural meanings it had never before held in Western societies. The author historicizes walking as a conscious cultural act and considers the many forms the act takes today, from
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Dec 08, 2019
Cecily
marked it as did-not-finish
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
landscape-location-protagonist
I bought this on a whim, after being stunned by the ethereal beauty and insight of A Field Guide to Getting Lost this summer, which I reviewed HERE.
This is good, but more ordinarily so. If you want a literate non-fiction book about the history and philosophy of walking, this may be for you. It turns out that I don’t. But it’s not her; it’s me.
Hence, this “review” is just notes on pages 1 to 103 of 291.
Thinking Points
Walking the way we do is uniquely human. Other bipedal creatures have wings or ...more
This is good, but more ordinarily so. If you want a literate non-fiction book about the history and philosophy of walking, this may be for you. It turns out that I don’t. But it’s not her; it’s me.
Hence, this “review” is just notes on pages 1 to 103 of 291.
Thinking Points
Walking the way we do is uniquely human. Other bipedal creatures have wings or ...more

I really wanted to like this book much more than I did, and kept waiting for it to get good. I want to also acknowledge at the outset that it languished on my Kindle for about 8 months as I got through it 1% of the time at a very plodding pace. Whenever I'd be stuck someplace with nothing else to read and go, "Ugh, fine, I'll work on the dang walking book again." I'm not sure I'd have been so committed if it hadn't been one of my Your Next 5 Books at the Seattle Public Library. I originally got
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I expected a lot more from this book and turns out I was terribly disappointed at how superficial and reductive her views of walking are. I don't understand the title: where's the history? It's more of a crib note guide and encomium to the theme of walking as found in Great Books of the Western canon. As soon as I found myself interested in a topic she covered, whether it was the perils of women walking or the role of walking and thinking/writing/philosophizing, I was whisked away like a harried
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I can imagine that some people are disappointed in this book, because it offers no conventional overview of the history of walking. It's more a collection of musings and digressions about all kinds of cultural-historical aspects of our civilization that are directly or indirectly linked with hiking: protest marches as secular successor of pilgrimages, the care for the environment, the harmful effect of suburbanisation, the relationship between female emancipation and hiking, the relationship bet
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This was my second time reading this book, and I feel as ambivalent about it as I did the first time through. There is just so much in here that it feels a bit overwhelming. Here are two of the notes I made while reading:
June 9 ~~ First chapter was about philosophers and walking. A bit dull. Second was about how and why humans began to walk in the first place, and the debate was still raging at the time she wrote. That was more interesting. Now I am on a chapter about pilgrimages, which is anoth ...more
June 9 ~~ First chapter was about philosophers and walking. A bit dull. Second was about how and why humans began to walk in the first place, and the debate was still raging at the time she wrote. That was more interesting. Now I am on a chapter about pilgrimages, which is anoth ...more

Apr 14, 2012
Michael Morris
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction
I know I gave this five stars, but I do have to get my one problem with this book out of the way. Wanderlust, in all that it manages to cover, does not even mention Japanese haibun, a literary form that merges short prose and haiku. This is important because many of these writings came out of long walking tours and travel accounts. Not mentioning Basho's Narrow Road to the Interior seems a crime to me.
That omission out of the way, I can still say that this is a terrific book, covering a lot of g ...more
That omission out of the way, I can still say that this is a terrific book, covering a lot of g ...more

Feb 26, 2012
Erik Graff
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Erik by:
Emma Lowes
Shelves:
history
Thanks to my upbringing, to summers in the woods and weekend forest walks all year long with Father and the dog, I've always enjoyed walking, particularly in nature, especially over new terrain, but even through the neighborhoods of cities. Thanks to the ageing of my peers and, with such, their increased responsibilies and increasing incidences of disability, I've had less opportunity to do so in company and, so, less inclination. A dog, a good dog, would help, but I live in an apartment, in a c
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I labored through it. I am a walking addict, and expected a more personal connection with the author. While Ms. Solnit did include numerous examples of personal walks, I was not able to hang with her and see the countryside, inner or outer. This is more a book about philosophers and famous literary and artistic personalities that just happened to be walkers.

I don't believe much in New Years' Resolutions as I prefer to do my self-improvement periodically throughout the year and not limit myself to a specific time in which to accomplish a goal. However, we are about 25 days away from moving into a new neighborhood, a safer neighborhood, and I am looking forward to being more active again - my boyfriend bought me a bike for Christmas 2007 and I have yet to be able to take it out, we'll be a few blocks away from a dog park, we can walk to the tennis co
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Phenomenal. Discursive, well-read, full of broad and rambling scholarship. Some chapters are literary criticism, some scientific, some urban planning history, some religious. One heartbreaking moment made me realize the book was published in precisely 2000—no later, no earlier. Less personal than A Field Guide to Getting Lost, but that's not this book's purpose.
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More than a history of walking, this is an excuse for Solnit to write about things she's interested in: literature she enjoys, turn of the century prostitutes, urban planning, landscape painting, National Parks, shrubberies. The book itself is an unplanned walk, following trails that often veer off in unexpected directions or circle back to themselves, and thus feels less like a history than a collection of essays inspired by the act of walking.
There are gems to be taken to heart, such as...
There are gems to be taken to heart, such as...
Thin...more

Oct 10, 2018
Cheryl
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
all readers
Recommended to Cheryl by:
Maria Popova
"Walking, ideally, is a state of mind in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned, as though they were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes finally making a chord. Walking allows us to be in our bodies and in the world without our being made busy by them. It leaves us free to think without being lost in our thoughts."
"Wanderlust's real pleasures resemble the pleasure of walking. It doesn't systematically press on toward a goal, but savors detail and varied pe ...more
"Wanderlust's real pleasures resemble the pleasure of walking. It doesn't systematically press on toward a goal, but savors detail and varied pe ...more

a mixed bag, and definitely a disappointment. i think it is higher than three stars rly but i feel weird giving it 4. main issues include
- wish some focus on disabled ppl making space & marching [or not] was present
- the class analysis needed to be deeper!! the whole way, she talks so vaguely about some issues when the problem is capitalism clearly
- in the chapter on gender solnit writes "other categories of people have had their freedom of movement limited, but limitations based on race, class ...more
- wish some focus on disabled ppl making space & marching [or not] was present
- the class analysis needed to be deeper!! the whole way, she talks so vaguely about some issues when the problem is capitalism clearly
- in the chapter on gender solnit writes "other categories of people have had their freedom of movement limited, but limitations based on race, class ...more

From English gardens to the wilderness, from French arcades to American shopping malls. . . .
Rebecca Solnit’s “Wanderlust A History of Walking” is an entertaining read, an erudite guide for pilgrims, promenaders, and wanderers, for all those who walk for travel and leisure, health and pleasure. In a series of well written essays, the author explored the contemplative, practical, and literary experiences of many who have contributed to the rich history of a universal pastime. Whether one has enj ...more
Rebecca Solnit’s “Wanderlust A History of Walking” is an entertaining read, an erudite guide for pilgrims, promenaders, and wanderers, for all those who walk for travel and leisure, health and pleasure. In a series of well written essays, the author explored the contemplative, practical, and literary experiences of many who have contributed to the rich history of a universal pastime. Whether one has enj ...more

Never thought walking had such a history. We may be familiar with gandhi, martin Luther king's marches. Various protest for various reasons, but the cultural phenomenon of walking from its supposedly Greek origins in peripatetic schools through aristocratic garden walks, to countryside walks by Rousseau, Wordsworth , Thoreau, to latest walkathon it has changed its form and metamorphosed completely. Pilgrimages of christians in new mexico ( santa fe) , paseo and corso ( Spanish speaking parts of
...more

I loved this book. If I was told 20 years ago that 20 years later I would be reading a book about the history of walking and giving it 5 stars I would have told my future self to get a life! The book is a study of walking from the past to the present. It looked at walking in a number of different angles (walking as a form of demonstration, walking for pleasure, fitness, walking as art etc) but ultimately it made me get of my butt and do some walking myself much to my wife’s annoyance who has bee
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Edit 11-01'18: make that 3 * for sure! After reading another book, partly about walking, that used Solnits book as a source & inspiration, I couldn't help not to think about this book and value all that research that was done.
Unfortunately I'm quite happy to be finished with this book. I won't get into much detail of all that Rebecca Solnit discusses here. Parts were interesting and fascinating, sure. Especially how walking can be, and is used as political and social criticism (and how the act ...more
Unfortunately I'm quite happy to be finished with this book. I won't get into much detail of all that Rebecca Solnit discusses here. Parts were interesting and fascinating, sure. Especially how walking can be, and is used as political and social criticism (and how the act ...more

At last! (Of course it took me a few days to be able to mark it read as well.)
I appreciate this book so much, in no small part because it brought together so many different facets of my own life and how I think about the spaces I move about in the world. One night, last week, as I was nearing the end, I put the book down and turned out the light, and so many thoughts were swirling in my head that I couldn't fall asleep.
My internal orientation as a walker didn't happen until I was a young adult, ...more
I appreciate this book so much, in no small part because it brought together so many different facets of my own life and how I think about the spaces I move about in the world. One night, last week, as I was nearing the end, I put the book down and turned out the light, and so many thoughts were swirling in my head that I couldn't fall asleep.
My internal orientation as a walker didn't happen until I was a young adult, ...more

Wanderlust: A History of Walking is a simply magical book by Rebecca Solnit tracing the concept of walking across disciplines, from philosophy to city planning to biology (how did we become bipedal anyway, and why?) Solnit discusses everything from the pilgrimage to the march, studying how we’ve conceptualized walking, wandering, exploring, from competitive drives to courting to a specific connection to a landscape to protesting and collective action. She discusses how women are fundamentally li
...more

I didn't finish this one before I had to return it to the library. I love to walk, and to read, just not so sure about reading about walking.
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The book starts with 24 epigraphs, you estimate how many references would be given in the actual essays.
It’s the far most comprehensive text I’ve read on the history of walking. The last collection of essays I’ve read was David Le Breton’s In Praise of Walking which cannot draw near to Solnit’s book. She contains and surpasses Le Breton.
Wanderlust starts with a pretty subjective form in the first chapter where Solnit opens up her personal passion for walking as an action in her personal life tha ...more
It’s the far most comprehensive text I’ve read on the history of walking. The last collection of essays I’ve read was David Le Breton’s In Praise of Walking which cannot draw near to Solnit’s book. She contains and surpasses Le Breton.
Wanderlust starts with a pretty subjective form in the first chapter where Solnit opens up her personal passion for walking as an action in her personal life tha ...more

Attracted to this title because I'm a committed, contented walker, one who is anti-suburbia and never drives, I ordered it from my library straightaway. I wouldn't say I was disappointed, but I was bored more times than engaged by this author's narration style and views, and often her selected topics were so specific to her locales as to appeal only to locals or those interested in visiting.
Topics are vast and, depending on the personal interests of each individual reader, range from fascinating ...more
Topics are vast and, depending on the personal interests of each individual reader, range from fascinating ...more

The best part of this book is the early section, which covers the topic of walking in philosophy and literature. Things degrade and wander a bit as things go on, and Solnit's politics start to become obtrusive - she got into thinking about walking as a part of "nuclear freeze" activities, and late in the book is an entire section of abuse directed at suburbs; besides the fact that yes, suburbs are more difficult to walk, it's not really fully at place in this book.
Tyler Cowen noted while reading ...more
Tyler Cowen noted while reading ...more

If there's one thing I enjoy as much as reading, it's walking, so a book about the history of walking is right up my street. Although, this is not so much a history (at least in chronological terms), more a gently meandering wander through both the highways and bye ways of the subject. And you are travelling with a very erudite enthusiast. So, we go by way of walking philosophers (Rousseau and Kierkegard), obviously Wordsworth and the romantics, a con side ration of the various theories of how,
...more

I enjoyed this read as a great provider of inspirational source material for a subject as banal and ubiquitous as walking, though I am very much already in Rebecca Solnit’s “pro-walking” camp, as I imagine most people who pick up the book would be, so her attempts at persuasion felt gratuitous, preaching to the choir. Fortunately her personal agenda only figures in as a minor aspect of the book, which appears more like an attempt to trace a sort of non-linear history of walking as a cultural and
...more

I managed to read fifteen pages of this book on several occasions without gaining enough momentum to continue, and now, having read it with ever-growing enthusiasm, I wonder what my problem was and how many other great things I've omitted for want of the least speck of commitment. If you have a little commitment to spare and you, like me, have ever been warned about the dangers of walking and reading at the same time, you should probably give this one a try.
Some Things
p. 5 "doing nothing is hard ...more
Some Things
p. 5 "doing nothing is hard ...more

2.5 stars. I just didn’t find this book as interesting as I thought I would. It is an extended meditation on walking as a mode of transportation, spiritual practice, protest, artistic form, athletic activity, measures of social status and more. I liked the *idea* of this book. I love to walk and I had romantic visions of myself listening to this book on audiobook while walking, which I did. It’s written competently enough (is verbosely) and there were parts of it I really enjoyed (debates within
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Writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than twenty books on feminism, western and indigenous history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, hope and disaster, including Call Them By Their True Names (Winner of the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction), Cinderella Liberator, Men Explain Things to Me, The Mother of All Questions, and Hope in
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“Walkers are 'practitioners of the city,' for the city is made to be walked. A city is a language, a repository of possibilities, and walking is the act of speaking that language, of selecting from those possibilities. Just as language limits what can be said, architecture limits where one can walk, but the walker invents other ways to go.”
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“For [Jane Austen and the readers of Pride and Prejudice], as for Mr. Darcy, [Elizabeth Bennett's] solitary walks express the independence that literally takes the heroine out of the social sphere of the houses and their inhabitants, into a larger, lonelier world where she is free to think: walking articulates both physical and mental freedom.”
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