The Philosophy of Walking

The Philosophy of Walking
by Frédéric Gros

“It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth.” —Nietzsche

In A Philosophy of Walking, a bestseller in France, leading thinker Frédéric Gros charts the many different ways we get from A to B – the pilgrimage, the promenade, the protest march, the nature ramble – and reveals what they say about us.

Gros draws attention to other thinkers who also saw walking as something central to their practice. On his travels he ponders Thoreau’s eager seclusion in Walden Woods; the reason Rimbaud walked in a fury, while Nerval rambled to cure his melancholy. He shows us how Rousseau walked in order to think, while Nietzsche wandered the mountainside to write. In contrast, Kant marched through his hometown every day, exactly at the same hour, to escape the compulsion of thought. Brilliant and erudite, A Philosophy of Walking is an entertaining and insightful manifesto for putting one foot in front of the other.

Articles, reviews, interviews, etc. related to the book The Philosophy of Walking:

1. Review (The New York Times): ‘A Philosophy of Walking,’ by Frédéric Gros
Lauren Elkin
Dec. 19, 2014

2. Review (The Guardian): Frédéric Gros: why going for a walk is the best way to free your mind
Carole Cadwalladr
Apr. 19, 2014

3. Review (Times Higher Education): A Philosophy of Walking, by  Frédéric Gros
Karen Shook
Apr. 10, 2014

4. Review (Cultural Machine Reviews): Frédéric Gros (2014) A Philosophy of Walking.
Angeliki Sioli
2015

5. Supplemental Article (The New Yorker): Heaven’s Gaits
Adam Gopnik
Sep. 1, 2014

6. Interview (Full Stop): Frédéric Gros
Michael Schapira
Jun. 4, 2014

7. Interview (Stir to Action): Frédéric Gros
Jonny Gordon-Farleigh
Summer 2014

8. Interview (Verso Books): Walking is a Show of Dignity: A conversation with Frédéric Gros
Nicholas Truong
Aug. 9,  2017