A Philosophy of Walking

A Philosophy of Walking

Hardback (25 Mar 2014)

Not available for sale

Includes delivery to the United States

Out of stock

This service is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Publisher's Synopsis

"By walking we escape the idea itself of identity, the desire to be someone, to have a name and a history ... The freedom experienced when walking is about not being anyone because the body that walks has no history; it just has an eternal current of life."

In A Philosophy of Walking, Fr�d�ric Gros charts the many different ways we get from A to B-the pilgrimage, the promenade, the protest march, the nature ramble-and shows what it tells us about ourselves.

He draws attention to other thinkers who also saw walking as a central part of their practice, and ponders over things like why Henry David Thoreau entered Walden Woods in pursuit of the wilderness, the reason Rimbaud walked in a fury while Nerval rambled to cure his melancholy. We learn how Rousseau had to walk to think, Nietzsche in order to write, while Kant walked to distract himself from contemplation. Brilliant, erudite, and always entertaining, Gros is certain to make you reconsider this everyday activity.

About the Publisher

Verso

Verso

Verso Books is the largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world, publishing one hundred books a year.

Book information

ISBN: 9781781682708
Publisher: Verso UK
Imprint: Verso
Pub date:
DEWEY: 128.4
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: x, 227
Weight: 404g
Height: 219mm
Width: 144mm
Spine width: 23mm