{"id":4932,"date":"2014-10-07T13:00:12","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T17:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/national\/?p=4932"},"modified":"2014-10-07T12:54:47","modified_gmt":"2014-10-07T16:54:47","slug":"book-review-walk-taking-step-right-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/national\/2014\/10\/07\/book-review-walk-taking-step-right-direction\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review &#8211; Why I Walk: Taking A Step in the Right Direction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/spacingmedia.com\/spacingvancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/features\/book-reviews_feature-VAN.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"72\" \/>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Author:\u00a0Kevin Klinkenberg (New Society Publishers)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ever since I read Jeff Speck\u2019s Walkable City, I&#8217;ve noticed just how many books on walking there are. It\u2019s that state of awareness similar to\u00a0when one\u00a0buys a new car (interesting metaphor I know). When one\u00a0buys a new car, you start seeing it everywhere. It is not that there are really &#8216;more&#8217; of your exact\u00a0car, of course. One is just more conscious\u00a0of them &#8211; perceiving\u00a0what we had initially taken for granted on a daily basis. This can also be the reason, that when\u00a0we start to walk more, we start to notice\u00a0just how many other people out there walk, themselves.<\/p>\n<p>All this to say, that once I started reading books about walking, I started noticing just how many books about walking there were. <em>Why I Walk: Taking a Step in the Right Direction <\/em>is very different though, insofar that it\u00a0does not talk about how cities and infrastructure can change to improve\u00a0walking public. This book is all for the individual &#8211; a self-help book if you will &#8211; about how to get up and out on your own two legs.<\/p>\n<p>Absolutely nothing that Klinkenberg talks about in his book is beyond belief. He sticks to personal experience and shares why walking is more beneficial than we may notice. Along the way he points out the how\u2019s and why\u2019s of why some cities are better with walkability, and how our infrastructure has failed us at many points, but he doesn\u2019t dwell here and he never sounds bitter. The book is literally filled with humor and optimism. I could imagine that Klinkenberg sat down every night to pen a little more of his short book after a brisk walk fired him up with endorphins, a feeling that was contagious and present on every page.<\/p>\n<p>The book has a pretty basic structure that works: the chapters are the different motivations for walking (financial, freedom, health, and social), each with their own subcategories &#8211;\u00a0quick breakdowns of ideas related to the overall chapter. Near the end of the book Klinkenberg looks at some of the downsides to walking, but then follows that with an epilogue titled \u201cWhat You Can Do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He never leaves issues on a sour note, but also doesn\u2019t shy away from the fact that walkability in certain cities and places in our western world can be difficult, if not downright impossible. In a funny and very direct\u00a0way around this issue, he tells the reader just to move (as in pack up your belongings and go). That\u2019s it. Don\u2019t think about it. \u00a0Just move to a different place with a better walkability rating, as it won\u2019t just increase your health, but lower your monthly budget, and increase your chances of reselling your house for (at worst) the same as what you paid for it, as walkable neighborhoods are statistically less likely to peak and valley in the real estate market.<\/p>\n<p>Klinkenberg says this without remorse and, in a way, he is right. For whatever reason you may want to start walking more, if the infrastructure around you isn\u2019t up for the challenge then how can you succeed? And beyond just bettering the planet, walking is something that betters ourselves, mentally and physically, which is another big point that Klinkenberg drives home.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, <em>Why I Walk: Taking a Step in the Right Direction <\/em>was a simple book, and it was in this simplicity where it truly shone. It was smart, witty, and moved along at such a quick pace that I had it read in a day. I feel like I could pick it back up whenever I wanted to jump to a certain paragraph that motivated me to get up and out. I thoroughly enjoyed it and, as a final side note, had I not chosen to walk and take transit as my daily means of transportation, I would probably still be trying to find the time to finish the book and write this review. Klinkenberg would be proud.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Jeremy Senko<\/em><\/strong><em> is happily lost in the world of theoretical architecture and design. He is forever a student at heart, consistently reading, experiencing and learning about the world he inhabits. More specifically, he recently completed his Bachelor of Interior Design at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where he pushed the limits (and the patience) of his professors.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Author:\u00a0Kevin Klinkenberg (New Society Publishers) Ever since I read Jeff Speck\u2019s Walkable City, I&#8217;ve noticed just how many books on walking there are. It\u2019s that state of awareness similar to\u00a0when one\u00a0buys a new car (interesting metaphor I know). When one\u00a0buys a new car, you start seeing it everywhere. It is not that there are<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/national\/2014\/10\/07\/book-review-walk-taking-step-right-direction\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Book Review &#8211; Why I Walk: Taking A Step in the Right Direction&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8146,"featured_media":5115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[419,23,429],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-infrastructure","category-urban-design","category-walking"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Book Review - Why I Walk: Taking A Step in the Right Direction - Spacing National<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/national\/2014\/10\/07\/book-review-walk-taking-step-right-direction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Review - Why I Walk: Taking A Step in the Right Direction - Spacing National\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 Author:\u00a0Kevin Klinkenberg (New Society Publishers) Ever since I read Jeff Speck\u2019s Walkable City, I&#8217;ve noticed just how many books on walking there are. 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