A Field Guide to Getting Lost
Ratings17
Average rating3.3
15
Ratings17
Average rating3.3
Rebecca Solnit investigates the nature of loss, losing and being lost. She starts with the revelation that what is totally unknown to you is usually what you most need to discover and explores how finding that unknown quantity frequently requires getting lost to begin with.
Reviews with the most likes.
I liked it very much, but it's not a book to rush through–lots of interesting reflections to ponder. Also not a book to read in bed at night, because the sentences can be quite meditative.
I read this book to help me get into the mood to travel–I have a conference to go to in another state but I am a notorious homebody who would usually prefer to stay in my familiar city. Or, if I have to go somewhere new, I want to be able to get home in time for dinner. Rebecca Solnit's book fit the bill perfectly. She presented me with people who were lost for so long that even though they never got back home, they ceased to be lost. And with the myth of a woman who disappeared into the prairie on her way West to meet her husband after immigrating from her home country (it turns out, the real story of her disappearance is different and far less beautiful). Each essay approaches the concept of being lost in a different way, and each essay contains threads of other stories that are connected to lostness in surprising ways. These essays are intricate, beautiful and worth contemplating. I had never read Solnit before, but I am now a big fan.
