"1,001 Walks You Must Take Before You Die"
Universe Publishing, $36.95
We all do it; depending on where we live, some of us more than others. Placing one foot before the other is so natural that most of us give it little thought. “Walking is the most commonplace, most ubiquitous of human activities, and although we have been doing it as a species for about { million years, walking as a leisure activity, as an end in itself, seems to be a comparatively recent phenomenon,” says general editor Barry Stone in the introduction to this hefty but entertaining tome. He differentiates between walking for pleasure and walking out of necessity. Walking, he points out, takes us to places not accessible by roads.
From Henry David Thoreau to Virginia Woolf, writers have been extolling the virtues of walking as a “contemplative exercise” for decades. It also can be inspirational: the great English Romantic poet William Wordsworth walked for hours through his beloved Lake District. Today recreational walking, as it is called, is on the upswing. For those, “1,001 Walks” will be a great resource. The editors have put together a massive list of walks: mountain walks, pilgrimage trails, heritage walks, literary walks, short urban walks, riverside strolls, coastal trails, national park walks, overland trails that range from the sublime (Fimmvorduhals in Iceland) to the whimsical (German Fairy Tale Route) to the macabre (Jack the Ripper Walk in London). All of the walks are accessible and “eminently doable” although, caution the editors, some involve climbing and others may require the services of an accredited guide.
The walks are organized geographically by continent, country and state or region. Amply illustrated, each entry consists of a short description of the walk, and most conclude with a helpful observation (“If you make only one stop in Brittany, it must be Dinan, with its beautiful medieval architecture.”) Essential details are included: the length of the walk, the recommended time to complete the walk, the level of difficulty and the type of terrain. There also is an index of walks by country and an index of walks by distance.
It’s a must for walkers everywhere.
“I See San Francisco: Through the Lens of SFGirlByBay”
Chronicle Books, $19.95
Victoria Smith is a popular design blogger and the founder of http://www.sfgirlbybay.com, an interior design and lifestyle blog. Although I See San Francisco is primarily a work of photography, she refuses to call herself a professional photographer; rather she considers herself “more of a storyteller.” A native of Los Angeles, she moved north to San Francisco 20 years ago. “Anything goes here, without judgment,” she writes. Her San Francisco is a progressive but also sentimental city “that welcomes the creative and eccentric with open arms, no matter what drummer they may march to.”
Organized by neighborhood from Noe Valley to the Sunset, each chapter features photographs of Smith’s idiosyncratic take on the City by the Bay. As she admits, not all the landmarks are here, but the essence of the city certainly is: its pastel Victorian Painted Ladies, its hilltop views, its iconic bridges and cable cars. She captures the feel of each neighborhood too: the murals of the Mission District, the luxurious hotels of Nob Hill while emphasizing the day-to-day rhythm of ordinary San Francisco, from book shops to grocery stores to laundries as well as its sly humor (a sign in North Beach, for example, reads “Hippies Use Side Door”). She explores quiet side streets and tiny walkways. Russian Hill, for example, may be known for crooked Lombard Street, but Smith prefers Macondray Lane, which is “just wide enough for foot traffic and filled with sweet little cottages and lush, overgrown urban gardens.” The back matter features neighborhood-by-neighborhood descriptions of the author’s favorite hangouts, from flea markets to ice cream parlors, bookstores to cafes.
It’s an intimate look at one of the country’s favorite cities.
