Walking on Thin Air : A Life’s Journey in 99 Steps

Geoff Nicholson has been walking his whole life. Part urban explorer, part psychogeographer, rambler and flaneur, wherever he is and wherever he goes in the world, he walks and writes about what he sees and feels. Here he reflects on the nature of walking, why we do it, how it benefits us and, in some cases, how it damages and even destroys us

Geoff Nicholson has been walking his whole life. Wherever he is and wherever he goes in the world, he walks and writes about what he sees and feels. Here he reflects on the nature of walking, why we do it, how it benefits us and, in some cases, how it can damage and even destroy us. His recent diagnosis with a rare, incurable form of cancer has made him all too aware of his own mortality. Sooner or later there will be a last step, a last excursion, a final drift, for him just as there will be for all of us.Geoff vows to continue to walk for as long as he can. This moving, vital book describes his own walks and relates them to the walks of street photographers, artists and writers, such as Garry Winogrand, Diane Arbus, Sophie Calle, Jorge Luis Borges and Virginia Woolf, among many others. Walking on Thin Air is a book about mortality and, above all, a celebration of being alive.

Geoff Nicholson is good company out on the road. He locates the unfamiliar in the familiar – watching, listening, noticing, talking steadily without ever outstaying his welcome. His prose takes flight.’

‘Funny, frank and stimulating – reading Geoff Nicholson is like going on an excellent walk with a fascinating friend.’

‘In turn comic, wry and philosophical, Walking on Thin Air is a profound meditation on life, art, writing, walking, illness and mortality. A wonderful book.’