Book Review: The lost art of walking by Geoff Nicholson

Author: Geoff  Nicholson
Title: The lost art of walking : the history, science, philosophy, and literature of pedestrianism
Publication Info: New York : Riverhead Books, 2008
ISBN: 9781594489983
Summary/Review:  

Geoff  Nicholson takes on the quotidian topic of walking, something just about everyone can do, although there who some who can who fail to exercise the ability regularly.  At the heart of this work are Nicholson’s own walks.  At the time of writing, Nicholson lived in Los Angeles a place generally seen to be hostile to walking although it is possible as I’ve experienced myself.  Nicholson walks in the various places he lives – London, New York, Los Angeles, and in a bittersweet final chapter he returns to walk through his childhood home of Sheffield.    In between he explores the history of walking (particularly sport walkers who performed feats of endurance such as walking 1 mile an hour for 1000 consecutive hours), walks in music and movies, psychogeography, walks in the desert, and street photography. There are also walking tours, which are near and dear to my heart, including such oddities as walking tours of parking lots. Nicholson seems to be a cranky person and that crankiness kind of sucks the joy out of his writing.  Still this is an interesting book with some intriguing insights into the topic.

Favorite Passages:

“Walking for peace may certainly strike you and me as futile and useless, but if a person believes it works, then it’s the most logical and rational thing in the world.  To walk for a reason, any reason, however personal or obscure, is surely a mark of rationality.  Money, art, self-knowledge, world peace, these are not eccentric motivations for walking; they’re damn good ones, regardless of whether or not they succeed.  I find myself coming to the conclusion that perhaps the only truly eccentric walker is the one who walks for no reason whatsover.  However, I’m no longer sure if that’s even possible.” – p. 85

“We walked on, not very far and not very fast.  It gradually became obvious, and it was not exactly a surprise, that two hours standing around listening to stories, interspersed with rather short walks, of no more than a couple of hundred yards each, was actually very hard work, much harder than walking continuously for two hours.  As the tour ended twenty people were rubbing their backs, complaining about their feet, and saying they needed to sit down.  I checked my GPS: in those two hours we’d walked just under a mile.” – p. 90

Recommended books: Wanderlust: a History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit, Lights Out for the Territory by Iain Sinclair, Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places, and Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne.
Rating: ***

Book Review: Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit

Author: Rebecca Solnit
Title: Wanderlust : a history of walking
Publication Info: New York : Viking, c2000.
ISBN: 0670882097

Summary/Review:

I like walking and a history of walking intrigued me.  It was not quite what I expected as Solnit takes a philosophical and metaphysical approach to the concept of walking.  The book includes ruminations on the biology of walking, pilgrimages, famed walkers like Peace Pilgrim, meditative walking, poets who walk (Wordsworth), walking clubs, hiking, climbing, walking in the city and the affects of sexual discrimination and racism on walkers, among many other topics.  The last chapter is an interesting contrast of Las Vegas, a notoriously unfriendly city to walkers, developing a pedestrian core.  Solnit insisted that her own story be part of the history by necessity, but I wish she hadn’t as she comes across as preachy and didactic.  Her voice appears throughout the text as one of nagging disapproval and it hampers my enjoyment of this book.

Favorite Passages:

“We talked about the more stately sense of time one has afoot and on public transit, where things must be planned and scheduled beforehand, rather than rushed through at the last minute,and about the sense of place that can only be gained on foot.  Many people nowadays live in a series of interiors — home, car, gym, office, shops — disconnected from each other.  On foot evertything stays connected, for while walking one occupies the spaces between those interiors in the same way one occupies those interiors.  One lives in the whole world rather than in interiors built up against it.” – p.9

“The new treadmills have two-horsepower engines.  Once, a person might have hitched two horses to a carriage to go out into the world without walking; now she might plug in a two-horsepower  motor to walk without going out into the world. … So the treadmill requires far more economic and ecological interconnection that does taking a walk, but it makes far fewer experiential connections.” – p. 265

Recommended books: The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs, Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places by John R. Stilgoe, Lights Out for the Territory by Iain Sinclair and Snowshoeing Through Sewers: Adventures in New York City, New Jersey, and Philadelphia by Michael Aaron Rockland

Rating: **

Boston By Foot Tour of the Month – Chestnut Hill

Today I took the excellent Boston By Foot Tour of the Month of Chestnut Hill.  While the neighborhood straddles Newton, Brookline, and Boston, the tour covered the Newton portion viewing elegant houses along shady lanes.

My photos are online here, with some samples below.

The Church of the Redeemer

The official description of  the tour from the Boston By Foot website:

Chestnut Hill is a classic streetcar suburb which developed as the railroad and streetcar network expanded around Boston. By the early twentieth century, Chestnut Hill was considered to be “suburban living at its best”.

This walking tour explores the Newton portion of the Chestnut Hill neighborhood where you will walk among large Victorian mansions while learning its evolution from rural farmland to a modern suburb.

Chestnut Hill also features the campus of Boston College and the historic Chestnut Hill Reservoir with a finish at the new Metropolitan WaterWorks Museum.

Hammond House

If you missed the tour today, don’t worry it will be offered again next year.  Become a Boston By Foot Member today and receive a discount on Tours of the Month plus special members only tours.

The Metropolitan Water Works

Boston By Foot Avenue of the Arts Tour

Huntington Avenue photo courtesy of Yarian Gomez's photostream on Flickr

Come out this Sunday July 25th at 2pm for a guided walking tour of Boston’s Avenue of the Arts lead by Boston By Foot guides (including yours truly).  The tour begins in front of The Church of Christ, Scientist on Massachusetts Avenue and the cost is just $15/person.  If you become a Boston By Foot member admission is reduced to just $5 and you get lots of other benefits as well.

Have you ever wondered why so many cultural institutions dedicated to fine arts, music, education, religion, and sports are clustered in one area in Boston?  As we walk along this cultural corridor we’ll explore the history of Huntington Avenue and learn about:

• landmarks created by two of the most remarkable women in Boston’s history: Mary Baker Eddy and Isabella Stewart Gardner
• not one but two acoustically perfect concert halls
• not one but two historical figures named Eben
• the oldest artificial ice sporting arena in the world
• Boston’s lost opera house
• the many innovations and contributions of the YMCA
• the site of the first World Series game
• expansion and development at Northeastern University, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
• and much, much more

I’m particularly proud of this tour because I originated the idea and collaborated on the research and manual writing.  So please come out and join us to learn more about this fascinating Boston district.

Huntington Avenue in 1920, courtesy of Boston Public Library's photostream on Flickr

The Best Dam Walking Tour in Boston

I promote a lot of tours on this blog, but if there’s one tour you must take this summer it’s the Exploring the Charles River Basin tour offered by Boston By Foot guides (including myself).  The tour steps off at 2 pm on Sunday, June 27th from Nashua Street Park just opposite the exit from the Science Park MBTA station (exit to the right, not toward the Museum of Science).  Admission for this tour is $15/person and $5 for card-carrying members of Boston By Foot.  A great excuse for getting a membership now!

Not to frighten anyone off but this tour covers about two-miles of some-times rough ground with little protection from the elements.  So come prepared with appropriate clothing and fresh liquids.  The tour lasts approximately 2 hours but you can duck out pretty easily at the 90-minute mark if you need to.

While Exploring the Charles River Basin,  you will:

• discover three brand-new parks that most people don’t know exist.
• history of the Charles River and its ever-encroaching banks
• hear mellifluous words like bascule, freshet, and sluiceway and find out what they mean too
• cross not one but two dams
• see the only city jail with a waterfront view and a park across the street
• ponder our litigious society
• find what remains of Miller’s River
• get a new perspective on the world’s widest cable-stayed bridge
• and without fail you’ll see all manner of transportation, roads, railways, bridges, and waterways

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FREE Tour of Jamaica Pond on Saturday!

Saturday June 19th at 11 am, meet at the Jamaica Pond Bandstand near the intersection of Pond Street and Jamaicaway for a 90-minute tour around Jamaica Pond.   Yours truly will be one of the guides for this Jamaica Plain Historical Society walking tour.

Official description of the tour from the JPHS website:

Once a gathering point for Boston’s elite, the Pond had previously been put to   industrial use as tons of ice were harvested there each winter. Learn about the movers and shakers such as Francis Parkman who made their homes on the Pond’s shores. Discover how the Pond was transformed from private estates and warehouses into the parkland we know today.
Leaves from the Bandstand, Pond Street and Jamaicaway.

Come join us for a fun and informative tour.  Last year I lead this tour for 27 people and 4 dogs.  It should be a nice escape on a hot day.  Don’t forget that the price of this tour is FREE, although you may want to sign up for a JPHS membership starting at $15.

Boston By Foot Tour of the Month – Preserving Boston’s History

Today I took Boston By Foot’s August Tour of the Month focusing on the Historic Preservation movement entitled Preserving Boston’s History.  The tour featured many familiar Boston landmarks and the guide informed us how historic preservationists saved many of them from the dustheap.

I’ve put a gallery of photos from the tour on my website.

Adaptive reuse kept Old City Hall alive after the municipal offices moved to Government Center.

Highlights include:

• the site of John Hancock’s house on Beacon Hill, lost in 1863 and ever since has been the rallying cry for what can be lost with historic preservation.
• the Charles Bulfinch portion of the Massachusetts State House which was almost demolished and replaced with a larger version of itself during an expansion
• Old City Hall, an early example of adaptive reuse as the government building was converted for commercial office space and restaurants.
• Old South Meeting House, one of the first buildings preserved due to historic events that happened there rather than being associated with one famous person.
• City Hall Plaza, once a vibrant commercial district which was cleared for urban renewal and replaced with a sea of bricks.  At least the Sears Crescent survived.
• The Filene’s department store building, currently gutted and vacant, holds the future of historic preservation in Boston.

Will Daniel Burnham's beautiful Filene's store building survive?

If you missed the tour today, fret not as Boston By Foot will offer it again as part of its Tours of the Month in the 2010 season.

Charles River Basin Walking Tour

I promote a lot of tours on this blog, but if there’s one tour you must take this summer it’s the Exploring the Charles River Basin tour offered by Boston By Foot guides (including myself).  The tour steps off at 2 pm on Sunday, July 26th from Nashua Street Park just opposite the exit from the Science Park MBTA station (exit away from the way to the Museum of Science.  Admission for this tour is $15/person and $5 for card-carrying members of Boston By Foot.  A great excuse for getting a membership now!

Not to frighten anyone off but this tour covers about two-miles of some-times rough ground with little protection from the elements.  So come prepared with appropriate clothing and fresh liquids.  The tour lasts approximately 2 hours but you can duck out pretty easily at the 90-minute mark.

While Exploring the Charles River Basin,  you will:

• discover three brand-new parks that most people don’t know exist.
• history of the Charles River and its ever-encroaching banks
• hear mellifluous words like bascule, freshet, and sluiceway and find out what they mean too
• cross not one but two dams
• see the only city jail with a waterfront view and a park across the street
• ponder our litigious society
• find what remains of Miller’s River
• get a new perspective on the world’s widest cable-stayed bridge
• and without fail you’ll see all manner of transportation, roads, railways, bridges, and waterways

Come join us by the banks of the Charles River and find the Lost Half Mile!

Boston By Foot Waterfront Tour

Celebrate Sail Boston ’09 with a Boston By Foot walking tour of the Boston Waterfront.  Meet at the Sam Adams statue in Dock Square by Faneuil Hall on Friday, July 10th 2009.  The ninety-minute tour steps off at 6 pm and will cover much of the made land that once was the waterfront in colonial days and then reach the modern waterfront with a great view of the tall ships.  I will be one of the guides for this fantastic, scenic and historic walk.  Admission is a mere $15 per person, $5 for members of Boston By Foot.

The beautiful Boston waterfront

Official description:

The Boston Waterfront was the epicenter of the maritime economy in the New World. From Dock Square to Rowes Wharf, this walk through Boston’s mercantile history features tales of the colonial shoreline, the lore of clipper ships, and the vibrant commerce of today’s shops and restaurants.

On this tour you will walk along four centuries of Boston’s ever-changing coastline. From John Smibert’s 1742 Faneuil Hall to the modern day Rowes Wharf, this tour of discovery is filled with artifacts and clues of New England’s great seafaring heritage.

In its heyday, the Boston waterfront was a maze of docks, warehouses and wharves serving Alexander Parris’ Quincy Market and Boston’s growing Financial District. Today, tourists flock to the waterfront to experience this maritime history walking among architectural treasures such as the Custom House and the Grain Exchange Building.

The once 1,743 foot Long Wharf is a popular destination for the New England Aquarium and sightseeing among Boston’s 34 islands encompassing nearly 4,000 acres of sheltered anchorages. Long Wharf, although quite a bit smaller today, remains the oldest continuously operating wharf in the United States.

You will also see the surviving wharf buildings designed by some of the finest mid-19th century architects including Gridley J.F. Bryant and Isaiah Rogers. Newly created green spaces in Columbus Park and the Rose Kennedy Greenway provide further connections with the Boston Harbor on land once occupied by Mercantile Wharf, City Wharf, T Wharf, India Wharf and Griffin’s Wharf (where some rebels once steeped a large quantity of tea).

Take in the incredible architecture and relive Boston’s past while getting a glimpse at her future on this guided tour of Boston’s waterfront.

Let me show you the Boston watefront (I can't promise I'll be this well-dressed though).

Benjamin Franklin in Boston

Does the name “Benjamin Franklin” bring to mind an elderly man with a bald pate and a pot belly? Well, Ben Franklin was a boy once too and his boyhood was spent right here in the city of Boston.  Come learn about Benjamin Franklin’s early days and influences on the Boston By Foot walking tour Ben Franklin: Son of Boston.  Your guide (one of whom is your blogger) will lead you to sites in Boston related to Franklin as well as talk about his later life as a printer, politician, scientist, inventor, and founding father.  This tour is offered as part of Boston Harborfest, one of the best events on the Boston calendar.

Son of Boston will be offered on two dates stepping off from the corner of Washington and School Streets near the Irish Famine Memorial and Borders Book Store:

Friday, July 3rd: 4 pm – 5:30 pm

Sunday, July 5th: 4 pm – 5:30 pm

Admission is $12/person.  $5 for members.  If you’re not already a member, sign up now or sign up with a Boston By Foot docent before the tour.

Benjamin Franklin statue at Old City Hall

More photos of what you will see on this tour online.

Official tour description:

Celebrate and learn the life of Benjamin Franklin by walking among the sites of his homes and haunts in Colonial Boston. In his day, Benjamin Franklin was America’s greatest scientist, inventor, diplomat, humorist, statesman, and entrepreneur. Ben was born in Boston, came of age in Philadelphia, and was the darling of Paris. From his many inventions, creation of civic, philanthropic, and educational institutions, to his his roles in the founding of America, his legacy is immeasurable.

If you have the chance, bone up be reading The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

Previously: Son of Boston: A Salute to Benjamin Franklin