Welcome to Litsy!

I enjoyed this book about walking literal paths instead of metaphorical ones. It would have been even better if I‘d listened to it while walking, but I‘m recovering from the flu, so that wasn‘t happening. The author discusses the mental benefits of walking slowly and observing the path you‘re on. He also talks about the nomadic nature of humans and how we‘ve shifted away from that walking.

I picked this up after hearing the author at an online literary festival & I‘m glad I did. Walking has been my favourite mode of transport for as long as I can remember & I really missed it while the bones in my feet were healing. This philosophical book has inspired me to get outdoors daily now that I‘m building up my walking stamina again. It‘s also encouraged me to think about my emotional connections to landscape. #translation by Becky Crook

Heraclitus is talking about people, not about rivers and water. We cannot visit the same place twice because the place is coloured by who we are when we come to it, and we are always someone else, never the same.

Even when I didn‘t need my backpack to carry anything, I still brought it with me. I felt naked without that backpack. It had become a part of my body, as if I were a dromedary and the backpack was my hump.

We have an inherent urge to wander that we seldom think about but that we are reminded of every time we wander.

The word “restlessâ€� signals someone who is unable to rest, to pause, to stop and settle down. This term carries negative connotations. Children who can‘t sit still on their chairs are given diagnoses. Children who sit still are praised. No one seems to consider that perhaps it should be the other way around.

For a long time now, we seem to have forgotten that migration is natural, a lifestyle that has long been part of human history. […] Emigration and immigration are not unnatural; rather, staying in one place is.

This might be a good one for these pandemic times since walking/hiking and being out in nature can help with depression and anxiety.

4/5🌟A interesting look at the act of walking in nature, the essence of paths and communing with nature and its ties to the human spirit. Incorporating personal with historical throughout. An epilepsy diagnosis made his ability to drive difficult so he started walking more and more, prompting reflection on the act of walking, and paths and certain paths we take, the paths that stick with us throughout our lives and the origins of paths themselves.

I love the writing style. The pace is perfect as we meander through various paths with the author. Very zen!