Book review: Walking to Listen by Andrew Forsthoefel
At the age of 23, Andrew Forsthoefel decided to slow his life down and dramatically.
He headed out of the back door of his home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania with a backpack, audio recorder, copies of Whitman and Rilke and a sign which read: "Walking to Listen.''
Having just graduated from college, he decided the best way to grow up, was to take a cross-country quest for guidance. He faced an Appalachian winter and a Mojave summer and met beasts inside himself, from fear to loneliness and doubt. But he also encountered incredible kindness from strangers, with thousands sharing their stories with Andrew.
It's a clever and deep book which concluded that listening is the way forward.
Walking to Listen by Andrew Forsthoefel, £18.99, www.bloomsbury.com