A meditative book about walking and mindfulness. Didn’t quite capture my attention but good for those who want a thoughtful meditation

As someone who can no longer really run, I needed this book. This essays on walking are inspiring and remind me of why I love to get out and move--no matter the speed. Stalls writes so eloquently about walking. Plus, I love the chapter lengths. Good to read a chapter and then head out for a walk.

I love this book.
Jonathon walks the walk, literally, and shows that the act of slowing down and paying attention can bring with it community, camaraderie and a change in perspective that we all need.

Walking as a way to connect with others and your environment is what the author is most passionate about. I enjoyed the way that he offers way to reflect on walking, as an opportunity to slow down, as a way to be more at one with nature and as way to meet people. He outlines how to set up a walk and connect group and also how to make it accessible for people in wheelchairs. He also invites the reader to reflect on the experience of walking whilst Black and how unsafe that can be. He notices and names that it may also not be safe for woman or LGBT people to walk alone and suggests ways you can find people to walk with. The author and the book is American, so there is much about getting people away from their dependency on cars. At times repetitive and preachy, this is an interesting book to dip in and out of, to take what you want and to begin an exploration of walking.

With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This lovely collection of essays recaps the author's walks in different parts of the US, the people he meets, and the stories they tell. I took away from this that we all need to sow down, connect with the people and places around us (in other words, look up from those screens!) and be present in the world we inhabit.

I was hopeful when I picked up this book because the author states his many privileges and acknowledges that the experiences of different people will be different when they walk or roll.

And I really tried. I really, really tried because I wanted to dive into WALK and enjoy it. But I couldn’t make myself enjoy it. At best I was bored, at worst I was rolling my eyes.

The memories wildly jump around in time, so I never knew where exactly we are, pre-walking time? When exactly? Oh, we are walking, okay. At times I also didn’t know who was recounting their memories, so more often than not I was trying to understand logistics instead of losing myself in the flow of words. And then there are the jumps between present tense and past tense even though it’s one situation that is talked about.

The author is reassuring people that if they “identify as white, this isn’t a personal attack.” (kindle pos. 413) and I’m… I don’t know where to start. I really, really don’t know where to start.

Overall, WALK left a bitter taste in my mouth even though the book doesn’t even manage to show the story. It tells and tells and tells. I felt like I wasn’t allowed to paint my own picture of the situations or analyze interactions. And I don’t know. Everything just felt so… forced. People immediately open up to a fucking stranger.

Everyone is just sooooo inspired. I might have vomited a little bit in my mouth. WALK might be authentic, but to me, it just doesn’t feel that way. At all. It rather felt… missionary and preachy, with a touch of… maybe snootiness?

I didn’t want to read it during my lunch break, so I put it aside and then never picked it up again. So I don’t know if it gets better or worse. And honestly? I don’t care.

Author Jonathon Stalls has done a *lot* of walking. He's walked across the entire continental US, he walked The Way of Saint Francis in Italy, and he founded a community walking organization called Walk2Connect.

This book, though, doesn't center on any of those experiences. Instead, it's more about the spiritual practice of walking- being present in your body, grounded in nature, and open to connection. (Expect lots of mindfulness and meditation.) It's also about accessibility and social justice, and makes some very good points about the need for better accessibility for pedestrians and people who use wheelchairs.

I appreciated Stall's thoughts and his passion (his included artwork is also very cool), but the book quickly became very repetitive. A tighter outline and more stories/personal experiences could have helped, in my opinion. 3.5 stars.

I received an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. My thanks to the author, publisher, and #NetGalley.
#Walk

This is a very relaxed and soft book to read. I approached it slowly, like a series of mindful exercises but I am sure you could read it in 1-2 sittings if you wanted to. It is structured around short sections of personal account, notes, and exercises for reflecting and focusing. It invites you to breathe and be present, to feel rain and wind, and experience the good and bad things. I think the structure and the illustrations are a real strength. Consciously or otherwise, this is a very dyslexic friendly book (or it was for me).

Stalls openly notes his positionality at the beginning of the book, which I found helpful. While I think the methods and issues covered are touched with genuine care, I also think that there are some quite simplistic ideas/advice that may relate to Stalls’s lived experience. He invites us to be open, kind, and critical, but I did frequently wonder about the roots of some of the concepts and the call to be emotionally open, slow down, and be vulnerable. I got this book because I find thinking/reading about being in nature mindfully very helpful. As an urban city child who retreats away from naturalness when stressed, I need the steer.

Overall, I thought it was OK but it hasn’t pushed me to walk and I didn’t connect with the style of self-expression. That said, I found it a very calm read and I know someone for whom this will be perfect.

Thank you to North Atlantic for the ARC copy.

An enjoyable, intersectional book about walking and rolling.

Stalls weaves memoir, social justice, and guided walking practices, highlighting how walking is good for out individual wellbeing and mental health, but also how it can help communities connect together. What this book brings which other walking books I've read have lacked is a thoughtful inclusive approach, bringing in quotes from walkers whose lived experience is different from the authors, and covering topics such as class, race, sexuality, disability, public transport and pedestrian justice, the environment and how we connect to the natural world. the most interesting part for me was learning about walk2connect, and how to go about engaging with government officials making decisions about how to make areas more accessibly walkable/rollable.

Unfortunately the writing does get somewhat repetitive as the book goes ago, but there's still a lot of good to get from reading this.

1.5 stars

I didn’t enjoy the book. As much as I love walking I felt that I’m not part of the target audience that the book was writing for

** Thanks to NetGalley, Jonathon Stalls, and North Atlantic Books for this ARC **

I want to start this review by saying that I think I was the ideal audience for this book. I LOVE reading books about walking and The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane is one of my favorite books of all time. I'm very liberal and was excited about a book about walking that honored indigenous land, discussed LGBTQ identity, focused on mindfulness, and centered wheelchair users. With that being said, I absolutely HATED this book. It was repetitive, preachy, and deeply obnoxious. If I hadn't gotten this book through NetGalley, I honestly don't think I could have made myself finish it. It is the first book I have ever just immediately deleted from my kindle, because I am THAT sure I will never read it again. One of the most irritating books I have ever read.

I had the joy this week of reading @pedestriandignity ‘s upcoming book Walk (thanks to @netgalley!) this week and I highly recommend everyone grab a copy when it comes out August 16th. I’ve followed Jonathon on TikTok for a while now and at first, I hadn’t realized that this book was his when I first requested it, but I am SO GLAD that I did.


Part memoir, part manifesto for human dignity in the way we move, this book gave me moments of joy, sadness, inspired me to look closer at my own pedestrian life and the way in which I walk and move in the world. The concrete invitations to join in and experience movement (whether you walk, roll, or move in another function) through integration and dedicated practices, visualization exercises, and other invitations for pause and reflection, provide a concrete way for me to become more mindful and aware of my own movements. The stories of Jonathon’s journey cross country brought tears to my eyes at times and also brought me to laughter, each one provided a unique lesson and a chance to learn and grow, which I loved. Lastly, the illustrations at the end of every chapter were absolutely beautiful and I loved them so much.

It took me a few days to think about what I wanted to say about this excellent book after I'd finished reading it. There is so much here. As someone who consciously stopped driving and started living a life on foot almost 20 years ago (living in the US), the title itself drew me to the book. I've lived in rural Ireland for the past 8 years and while cars are abundant here, people also do far more walking in their everyday lives than was the case when I lived in the US. Many of the issues the author talked about regarding people being left behind due to car culture were things I noticed there and that I was interested in when I moved here. The public transport system here is quite good--at least in comparison. Local people comment on its failings, but my husband and I always tells them how incredible it is that we can live without a car in a small village because there are various bus services--something that would not happen in the US. So I connected with parts of the book on a personal level.

I was also drawn into the author's descriptions of how walking saved, then changed, his life in so many ways. I love that he became an activist for safe spaces for walking and a cheerleader for walking as an enriching activity.

The book is well-written and covers many different aspects of walking. Each chapter is devoted to a different issues around walking and these chapters do not need to be read in sequence--skipping around would be fine, although I would suggest people read the introduction first because it is powerful and sets the stage for what is to come. The drawings included in the book are a joy and enhance the book's message. I highly recommend this book.

This was a cool and interesting read. I liked how everything was broken out and how at the end of each chapter there was guidance on how to apply that chapter's mindset with your walks.

I would recommend this to someone looking to enhance their walking experience and connect spiritually.

Thank you, North Atlantic Books, for the advance reading copy.

A nonfiction, much needed book which focuses on various aspects of walking and how it would affect us. I feel the book is a much required reading and a must add on our shelves.

A book fit for both the young and older age groups, the book gives a general view on the topic with easy-to-read and follow short chapters.

You will be surprised with the inclusion of poetry and minimal illustrations in between the pages.

The highlight for me would be the short, easy to read and absorb short paragraphs. This way it made the reading experience more fun and engaging.

You will be motivated to walk and fit the same in your routine with more awareness and information. A good read. You will find this particular read very calming and you will find yourself more closer to nature.