On Trails

Part natural history, part scientific inquiry, but most of all a deeply thoughtful human meditation on how we walk through life, Moor’s book is enchanting

The Boston Globe

A wanderer’s dream, even from an armchair

The Economist

This book is about so many things: about breaking down the binary between ‘humanity’ and ‘nature,’ ‘civilization’ and ‘the wild.’ It’s an exploration of exploring, a philosophical-psychological-journalistic adventure in the tradition of Michael Pollan and Rebecca Solnit. … Not all who wander are lost, and Moor helps us see what they seek

New York Magazine

A hike becomes a classic when it takes hold of a person like a memorable story - when the journey is marked by surprises. On Trails, the first book by American journalist Robert Moor, embodies this. It is a surprising story of trails as Moor takes us on disparate journeys…As Moor walks, his bigger themes coalesce - and evolve. [His] exploration becomes a consideration of the trail/path of life, where to walk, how to live

The Globe and Mail

In the hallowed tradition of Robert Macfarlane, Moor’s beautiful travelogue is a meditation on trails: as cultural space, as history, as intimate terrain. This is just the ticket for your big summer adventure

San Francisco Chronicle

…a deeply informed study of the nature and history of trailmaking…There are revelations at every turn here, from the nature of shepherding, to the vast network of ancient animal and Native American trails that underlie modern North America, to the very qualities of the best trails - durability, efficiency, and flexibility - and how we learn from them even as we move beyond them

Alan Moores, Booklist Starred Review

[An] engrossing meditation on trails in animal and human societies…Moor combines vivid reportage told in supple prose with lucid explorations of science and history in an absorbing account of how travelers shape and are shaped by the land they pass through

Publishers Weekly

He brilliantly synthesizes his own hiking experiences so that distinctions between history, science, and philosophy meld into a beautiful book

The National Book Review

Moor’s On Trails is a thoroughly researched blend of science and philosophy that offers a fresh perspective on the lived world

Jonny Diamond, Lit Hub

A sagacious walker and writer guides us on a new journey of discovery, a different kind of road trip about roads themselves and what they mean… this is a fine guide to places with better views of the world

Kirkus Reviews

Chockful of historical trivia, philosophical musings, and an unflagging sense of joy in winding one’s way through both the outdoors and the inner self, Moor’s multi-dimensional exploration earns him a place on the map of writers to watch. … Moor [is] an elegant essayist and fastidious researcher. … Whether perambulating or cogitating, if you love to follow a twisting path, making unexpected connections between Point A and Point B, you’ll love the literary adventure of nonfiction writer Robert Moor’s compelling debut

Passport Magazine

Spectacular... an example of narrative nonfiction at its finest. Those with a passion for walking, hiking or exploring will be naturally drawn to Moor's subject, but this is so much more than a subject-specific story; it is a book that poses big questions about humanity's place in the world (literally and figuratively) and how we've come to be here—and it's fascinating to its very end

Shelf Awareness

Hiker and journalist Moor [is] the rare thru-hiker whose philosophical ramblings you’ll actually want to read. … [A] treatise on how trails—the ones we plan and the ones we accidentally leave behind—shape our culture

Outside

An inspired exploration of the collective wisdom of trails

 William Finnegan, author of Barbarian Days

For a combination of adventure physical and intellectual, this book is tough to beat ... it's the perfect companion for a long hike someplace down the trail

Bill McKibben, author The End of Nature and Wandering Home

Robert Moor’s primer on the history of trails is a literary gem, encompassing everything from insect travel to road-building in Colonial America. Addictive readers and knowledge junkies, however, should be careful. On Trails is a whirlpool of fact that will suck you in and not let go

Rinker Buck author of The Oregon Trail

This strange and delightful book combines the best elements of travelogue, science writing, and spiritual guidebook. The work of a curious, hungry, eccentric, and profoundly secular mind, it leaps from ants to elephants to the Internet to us in beautiful, looping prose. You can find something brilliant and enlightening on every page. While Moor hikes his trail through our world, teaching you amazing things you never imagined learning, he also manages to be not just entertaining but actually funny. In the end though, his goal is to show us that our own species, and the other species with whom we share the planet, have a trail-hardened wisdom that, respected properly, might just save us all from catastrophe

 Amy Wilentz, author of Farewell, Fred Voodoo

Moor writes about one subject as a way of touching on 100 others… he is a philosopher on foot and the only constant in On Trails is the promise of surprise

The Wall Street Journal

[Moor] begins as a hiker, wondering why the path he’s on veers this way but not that way, and just who might’ve authored that path’s direction, but ends up subjecting more existential paths–"'spiritual paths,’ ‘career paths,’ ‘paths to wellness’"-to this same inquiry

Garden & Gun Magazine

On Trails teems with scientific and historical anecdotes…little flowers of information bloom on the graceful canes of Moor’s prose. He’s erudite, witty, and relentlessly curious

Garden & Gun Magazine

Profound and interesting, it dwells on big questions and brings together an engaging collection of facts and stories

Book Riot, One of the best Science/Nature books published this summer

A beautiful thing to behold. … what a profoundly talented writer Moor is. He brings a keen essayist's eye to themes both personal and empiric; his prose is lush and lively and his analysis adroit — all making On Trails a true treat to read

BuzzFeed Books

[A] fascinating debut … both fun and intriguing. … Following Moor’s trails in this book opens many fascinating vistas

The Seattle Times

There are revelations at every turn here, from the nature of shepherding, to the vast network of ancient animal and Native American trails that underlie modern North America, to the very qualities of the best trails—durability, efficiency, and flexibility—and how we learn from them even as we move beyond them....[A] deeply informed study of nature and history of trailmaking

Booklist, Starred Review

An ingeniously conceived collection... Like Tom Vanderbilt’s Traffic, Moor’s book is an appealing mix of the physical and philosophical

National Post, "The books you should be reading in July"

Hanging with [Moor] you meet a host of different byways, get in (and out) of trouble and the experience is not just enlightening, it’s sweaty, hot, cold and…well, to say it plainly…fun

Robert Krulwich, "Curiously Krulwich," National Geographic

Marvellous

The Telegraph

Terrific, richly mapped and deeply felt and thought

Robert Macfarlane, author of Is A River Alive?