"Even apart from the action of walking, but compatible with it, there is also joy experienced as fullness, the joy of living."

I think I might have enjoyed the book more if I was more familiar with philosophy and the philosophers discussed here, but as it is I found the text incredibly slow and dense. Not my cup of tea. 

It was very nice to read so many different perspectives on walking and seeing how this practice is regarded by famous philosophers and the author themself. 
It was also great to feel that my semester studying philosophy came to good use because I recognized and had knowledge about many of the names mentioned in this book xD

A pleasant meander through walking- muses on the nature of walking and the different ways we walk are interspersed with autobiographical accounts of walkers- philosohers, poets and thinkers who walked and wrote about their walking. 

I found this book genuinely inspiring, I started planning a walking holiday when I was only part way through. I really enjoyed the autobiographical sections. I think some of the muses were beautifully written but I wasn't convinced all of the claims were found. It fell into a lot of the traps of popular "philosophy' books- I thought the reasonings were sometimes a bit weak and it's focus was very autobiographical rather than philosophical when talking about historical figures. But I wasn't expecting something academic and rigorous so I can't complain too much. 


A lovely book that genuinely changed my perspective on the power and meaning of something as everyday as walking.

I think some of the reviews are a little over-critical… sure I would not consider this work highly intellectual nor is it some revolutionary new philosophy but that shouldn’t be the book’s goal. Walking is not new, it’s not flashy, it has been around since the beginning of time. I believe Gros understands this, we do not need a new way to view walking but to change how we view it in modern life. This is no more than a beautiful little love letter to humankind’s most rudimentary action. 

Walking is a mundane and monotonous task that so many of us avoid but it’s essential to the human experience. This book made me appreciate the privilege of being able to participate in such a ritual.

“I’m a pedestrian, nothing more” - Rimbaud