Download Your Copy On Foot: A History Of Walking Produced By Joseph A. Amato File Format Audio Book
Finally, upon completion, though, I have to say the experience was a gratifying one, While certainly not the BEST book I've ever read, Amato's discussion of walking in terms of its relationship to roads, horses, cars, city structures and the like, was a highly illuminating read, and has certainly set the stage for even more research into the topic.
I was dismayed though that it wound up being yet another book on walking that failed to fully explore the philosophical notions of it, how it finds expression, and what the intellectual and emotional impact is of that expression.
Therefore, I am still searching for that book on walking that addresses what it is I want to know about it.
I guess I'll just have to write it,
In the end, I am feeling a little blaise about the text as a whole, mostly because I was so intimately tied to it as it formed the backbone of my thesis research that it was, I think, impossible for it to be a satisfying read in its own right.
It is a text of INFORMATION, primarily, and the aesthetic tone of it shows that, It isn't, by and large, a book read for enjoyment, but rather is read for purpose, for content alone, and, while I find that terribly enriching, my guess is that most others won't.
On Foot: A History of Walking is an enlightening compelling read, As the title suggests, this book describes the history of walking, Thus, as one would expect, this book looks at how human upright mobility changed the way our ancestors traveled, lived, and thought.
Though well explored, this topic is only one small aspect of the myriad of topics contained in this fascinating book.
The author outlines the many great migrations, battles, crusades, and pilgrimages that have been made by on foot.
Most of these journeys, and the challenges while on these adventures, are simply beyond our modern comprehension, Nonetheless, the author paints an enlightening picture for the modern reader,
These topics alone would have made for a captivating book, However, the author has gone beyond all expectations and used this book to discuss the way walking and other means of transportation have been viewed by various social classes and how these views have changed a countless number of times over the centuries.
Moreover, this book examines changes in the definition of roads over time how these roads differed in urban and rural settlements and these changes effected the development of culture and lifestyle in rural and urban areas.
On Foot: A History of Walking is a well researched, well written piece of work, Furthermore, though the book contains a large amount of information, this book reads easily without a lot of documentary like dryness.
Time and time again, the reader will find him or herself, sharing some of the entertaining or enlightening facts, historical accounts, and quips with his or her family and friends.
Simply put, this book will be enjoyed by anyone who walks, rides, or drives,
I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understand the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks, who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering.
Henry David Thoreau " Everything is within walking distance if you have the time, Stephen Wright For approximately six million years, humans have walked the earth, This is the story of how, why, and to what effect we put one foot in front of the other.
Walking has been the primary mode of locomotion for humans until very recent times when we began to sit and ridefirst on horses and in carriages, then trains and bicycles, and finally cars, trucks, buses, and airplanesrather than go on foot.
The particular way we saunter, clomp, meander, shuffle, plod along, jaunt, tramp, and wander on foot conveys a wealth of information about our identity, condition, and destination.
In this faststepping social history, Joseph A, Amato takes us on a journey of walkingfrom the first human migrations to marching Roman legions and ancient Greeks who considered man a "featherless biped" from trekking medieval pilgrims to strolling courtiers from urban pavement pounders to ambling window shoppers to suburban mall walkers.
Concentrating on walking in Europe and North America and with particular focus on how walking differed according to social class, Amato distinguishes how, where, when, who, what, and under which conditions people moved on foot.
He identifies crucial transformations in the history of walking, including the adoption of the horse by the mounted warrior the rise of public display among European nobility and the building of roads and transportation systems, which led to the inevitable ascent of the wheel over the foot.
By the end it felt like a Bill Bryson non fiction book, Well researched but best treated as the sort you could read forminutes then put down for a few weeks.
I liked it. Lots of interesting details, great notes, obviously exhaustive and well researched, However, as a whole, the book is a tedious read and never seems to live up to its promise, Perhaps because of repetition and the author's inability to take advantage of his good material, A cultural historian's take on the history
of walking, Coverage is pretty good, though only European/Western, but the writing is often weighed down with baggy lists, Footnotes help lots of research available there, Interestingly, his focus is in the ways in which "the displacement of walking as a necessary activity and the birth of walking by choice are: tied together".
So will be an important work for my diss, Though you can't talk about the history of walking without engaging texts written by the long list of literary walkers, Amato is less able as a literary critic and it shows.
To be continued, . . Joseph A. Amato is a noted teacher, thinker, and author, sitelink Joseph A. Amato is a noted teacher, thinker, and author, sitelink sitelink.