I find myself reading more books of essays than fiction these days. It is perhaps because of my brain’s adaptation to reading in the era of social media: reading 180-character snippets has made my attention span shorter and my having less patience. It could be also that I am becoming less accepting of the novel form. Regardless, I am finding satisfaction if not outright joy in reading well-written and concise essay collections. This is one of the books that fell on my lap during my excursions into the essay form.
Another book that I have used for my critical reading purposes
is by Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading. (https://polymathtobe.blogspot.com/2024/01/book-review-history-of-reading-by.html)
Manguel’s book was more extensive and more catholic in its scope.
This book by Gros is a philosophical treatise on walking,
which is clearly stated in the title. Fréderic
Gros is a French philosopher, an erudite philosophical explorer. In this case, he
was also ably assisted by his translator John Howe, as I thoroughly enjoyed
Howe’s translation of Gros’ thoughts. This was a fact that needs to be
recognized because I so enjoyed reading the 25 essays because of the fluent translations
of the original essays. The book was not only accessible, it held my attention,
filled me with wonderment, and elicited critical questions as my mind wandered
with the essays.
The book is laid out to explore and intellectually
investigate walking, something that most of us take for granted. Those of us
who are not cursed by physical ailments that prevent us from walking understand
the feelings and mechanics of walking intrinsically, which could have made the
author’s exploration of the topic seem redundant. Yet Gros was able to make the
reader discover the joys of walking for the first time in our lives, such is
the fluency of his words and cogency of his explorations. He adroitly explores
the wonders behind the different kinds of feelings that we get from walking,
the feeling of slowness, the solitude of taking a walk, the silences that
surrounds us during a walk, the simple pleasures of a stroll, the sensual
pleasures of walking in a public garden, and the role of an urban flâneur, and the importance
of the pilgrimages, amongst many other topics.
Interspersed amongst the explorations of many different kinds
of walking are chapters devoted to people from history who are known for their
walking habits. Philosophers like Nietzsche, Rimbaud, Rousseau, Thoreau,
Nerval, Kant, and Gandhi. Each of the essay on these philosophers gives concise
histories of each philosopher and relates how their philosophical treatises are
affected by their walking habit.
I was familiar particularly with Nietzsche, Kant, Thoreau,
and Gandhi and the roles that their walking played in their philosophical
works, yet Gros was able to expand my understanding of these philosophers. The
author could have expended considerable amount of pages on each of those
philosophers I mentioned, and it is very much to his credit that he did not overextend
his discourses on the obvious subjects because his circumspection in that
regard served his purpose of integrating the practice of walking into those
philosopher’s philosophical work. He could have expounded on the histories of
the philosophers and then digressed into their philosophies in general; but his
prudence and economy of explanation allowed the readers to focus on walking.
This was a book that I read in those moments when I am in
the mood for a short respite from deliberate bouts of concentration while I am
reading non-fiction or if I needed to rest my imagination from too much thought
perturbations from reading long and convoluted novels; as rewarding much as
those reads are, sometimes a break is needed to refresh my mind. The essays in
this book are immensely enjoyable and are of a length that will allow my mind
to relax as I am able to focus on something other than complex and dense
material. I would like to think that creating this kind of reading habit and
spacing the shorter essays in-between heavier readings is also helping me re-learn
how to read deeply for short periods of time, which will return me to being
able to read and think deeply for longer periods of time. Regardless of whether
my method meets its intended purpose, I am enjoying the exercise.
