Of Walks and Walking Tours: An Attempt to Find a Philosophy and a Creed

Haultain, Arnold, 1857-1941Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0

Word count: 181K words
Chapters: 19

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Of Walks and Walking Tours: An Attempt to find a Philosophy and a Creed by HaultainAuthor: Haultain, Arnold, 1857-1941,Language: English, Class: SK: Agriculture: Hunting sports, Release Date: Jun 19, 2014

Editor's review

This book, titled "Of Walks and Walking Tours," seeks a philosophy and a creed for walking. It is neither a route guide nor a fitness manual, but an essayistic reflection in which the author extends the experience of walking toward an attitude to life and a spiritual order. Its strength lies in elevating everyday walking into a method for observing the self and the world: once the pace slows, how attention is redistributed, and how landscape, companions, solitude, and rhythm together form a practicable philosophy of life. For modern readers its value lies not in offering standard answers but in modeling a way of writing and living that thinks while walking. There is no need to rush toward conclusions; read it as you would a walk itself—allow the mind to branch off, allow yourself to pause at a certain paragraph. It suits reading after a commute, before a weekend, or after a short walk, letting the words and bodily experience confirm each other.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy essays and philosophies of everyday life, and who savor slow reading
Outdoor enthusiasts who hike or walk regularly and wish to deepen the experience
Urban office workers in need of light spiritual sustenance
Writers interested in walking literature and nature writing

Not a good fit for

Readers looking for specific hiking routes, gear, or practical guides
Those expecting rigorous philosophical argument or an academic system
Readers who prefer strong plots and fast-paced reading

Reading tips

Read only one or two sections at a time, then go out for a fifteen-minute walk to compare the words with bodily sensation.
Keep a pen at hand and mark sentences that make you pause, but don't rush to organize them into a complete argument.
Read it alongside a nature observation notebook to train the habit of slowing down attention.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a hiking guide or a philosophical essay?

According to the material, it is an essayistic work in which the author seeks a philosophy and a creed for walking and hiking, not a guide to routes, gear, or fitness. Expectations should be placed on reflections about attitude to life and the experience of walking, rather than on a practical travel guide.

Will it be difficult to read without hiking experience?

Not very. The book mostly discusses the shifts in observation, rhythm, and mood that walking brings, which ordinary walking experience can match. If you rarely walk, start with short walks before reading the relevant chapters, and your understanding will be more concrete.

Is it suitable to read in one sitting?

Not really recommended. The book's thinking unfolds with the walk, and there are often pauses and forks between passages; reading it all at once easily turns into rushing along. A better approach is to read in installments, leaving some blank space after each, so the words can settle slowly during a walk or in quiet.

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About the author

Haultain, Arnold, 1857-1941 Author · Canadian · 1857–1941

Arnold Haultain (1857–1941) was a Canadian essayist. His collection Of Walks and Walking Tours: An Attempt to find a Philosophy and a Creed turns everyday walking into an inquiry into the philosophy and beliefs of life, written in a calm and reflective style; Hints for Lovers turns to relationships and matters of the heart, with a lighter tone and an air of social observation. Beyond these two subjects, Haultain also wrote social commentary on a fairly broad range of topics. Public information about his life and literary background is limited, and two of his works are currently held in the collection. Judging from the works available, he excelled at starting from ordinary subjects and developing his arguments in the essay form, with a gentle style that still conveys personal views, giving him a modest place in Canadian essay writing.