The Value of a Life in Motion

The journal excerpts at the end of the book in particular, and moments throughout the book in general, serve as testament to how ardently Chatwin adheres to the belief that a human life is best lived in motion. He lauds the virtues of walking through literary quotations and testimony from scientists who observe that even in our infancy, people desire the motion of walking. Our bodies and minds are healthier for it, and we are able to shake off the diseases and psychoses that come from a stagnant, sedentary existence.

Chatwin even hypothesizes that entire cultures improve as well, as the lifestyle of motion is adopted by its members, as demonstrated by the fact that the sedentary tribes' initiation rites are much more violent than those of the tribes whose lives have been spent forging their survival from ever-changing places, with ever-changing...