Purchase
An Exploration
Simon & Schuster
July 2016
On Sale: July 12, 2016
352 pages
ISBN: 1476739218
EAN: 9781476739212
Kindle: B0176M3ZG0
Hardcover / e-Book
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction
From a brilliant new literary voice comes a groundbreaking
exploration of how trails help us understand the world—from
tiny ant trails to hiking paths that span continents, from
interstate highways to the Internet. In 2009, while thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, Robert
Moor began to wonder about the paths that lie beneath our
feet: How do they form? Why do some improve over time
while others devolve? What makes us follow or strike off on
our own? Over the course of the next seven years, Moor
traveled the globe, exploring trails of all kinds, from the
miniscule to the massive. He learned the tricks of master
trail-builders, hunted down long-lost Cherokee trails, and
traced the origins of our road networks and the Internet. In
each chapter, Moor interweaves his adventures with findings
from science, history, philosophy, and nature
writing—combining the nomadic joys of Peter Matthiessen with
the eclectic wisdom of Lewis Hyde’s THE GIFT. Throughout, Moor reveals how this single topic—the
oft-overlooked trail—sheds new light on a wealth of age-old
questions: How does order emerge out of chaos? How did
animals first crawl forth from the seas and spread across
continents? How has humanity’s relationship with nature and
technology shaped world around us? And, ultimately, how does
each of us pick a path through life? Moor has the essayist’s gift for making new connections, the
adventurer’s love for paths untaken, and the philosopher’s
knack for asking big questions. With a breathtaking arc that
spans from the dawn of animal life to the digital era, ON
TRAILS is a book that makes us see our world, our history,
our species, and our ways of life anew.
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
| 
© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy