Journeys of Simplicity: Traveling Light With Thomas Merton, Basho, Edward Abbey, Annie Dillard & Others (Hardcover)

by Philip Harnden (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Here's what John Muir brought on his 1,000-mile trek from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico: a comb, a brush, a towel, soap, a change of underclothing, five books, a plant press and a map. "Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness," he wrote. In Philip Harnden's quirky, reflective book Journeys of Simplicity: Traveling Light with Thomas Merton, Basho, Edward Abbey, Annie Dillard & Others, Harnden gives us the lists of objects that famous pilgrims took with them on their travels. Bilbo Baggins wouldn't have strayed from the Shire without his pipe and tobacco (though we learn that he forgot other necessities such as money, a hat and a walking stick). Most entertaining is the substantial list of items Henry David Thoreau brought with him on a 12-day canoe trip in Maine; ironically enough, the man who told others to "simplify, simplify" toted along 166 pounds of stuff. Harnden notes that the book's title is something of a double entendre: it helps us to imagine light, unencumbered journeying, but it also points to the divine Light that illuminates our trail.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
Where do our journeys take us?
What do we leave behind?
What do we carry with us?
How do we find our way?

You are invited to consider a more graceful way of traveling through life. With arresting clarity, Journeys of Simplicity offers vignettes of forty travelers and the few, ordinary things they carried with them--from place to place, from day to day, from birth to death.

Edward Abbey, Nellie Bly, Raymond Carver, Dorothy Day, Marcel Duchamp, Dolores Garcia, Emma "Grandma" Gatewood, Mohandas Gandhi, Peter Matthiessen, William Least Heat Moon, John Muir, Robert Pirsig, Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, Henry David Thoreau, Father Zossima, and others.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Skylight Paths Publishing (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893361764
• ISBN-13: 978-1893361768
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #971,709 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's Hard To Travel Lighter Than This, March 2, 2003

By	C. Ryan (Winthrop, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The small book devotes two pages each to about three dozen authors, spiritual seekers and fictional characters. One page briefly describes the person and something about their life and philosophy; the second provides a supposedly complete list of the small number of items each person lived with or took on a trip. It's thought provoking as to how much - or how little - stuff we really need to live a good life. At the same time it's a VERY brief book that can be read in about 30 minutes. Because there is a bibliography listing one or more sources for or about each person this book might best be considered an introduction/reference for those wanting to study the philosophy of simplicity. It's also a good inspirational gift for someone who wants to simplify their life. Too bad publishers don't provide little books like this for a more reasonable price.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dream of Simplicity, May 29, 2006

By	James Paris "Tarnmoor" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Most of us are in risk of being overwhelmed by our pursuit of "stuff." Let's just take babies as an example. It appears that strollers for toddlers must now cover almost half an acre and contain sufficient storage for any possible medical or hygienic emergency. Young married couples feel the necessity to immediately buy a huge van that is effective only at cutting off the view of the hapless motorists behind you. Houses must be larger to contain the "stuff" we buy for our children. Why? Because if we don't, it means we don't love them, I suppose.

I must not have been loved very much. My father was a poor factory worker who drove a 1949 Mercury coupé. During all my childhood, I remember only a handful of toys: a set of white plastic blocks that were similar to the Legos that came later, various toy soldiers, a small Lionel O-Gauge electric train set, a stamp collection, a cowboy cap pistol, and a Civil War hat (Union Army type). That hat I wore with a blue cub scout shirt with captain's bars sown on that made me look like the boy Dusty on the old Rin Tin Tin show that I loved to watch.

Over the years, I seem to have gone astray somewhat. My apartment has well over 6,000 books in it. However much I resolve to cut down, I always find myself intrigued by another title that I must read. If I were to sit down and read all the books I own, I would have to live for hundreds of years more.

This slim volume was one of my recent purchases. I sat down to read it almost at once and fell in love with it. JOURNEYS OF SIMPLICITY is a book of lists of stuff with which selected real and fictional people traveled through their lives.

Some of the lists, such as the personal effects of Thomas Merton when he was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room after being electrocuted by his room fan, were heart-wrenching. In almost every case, they set off a little flash bulb of enlightenment. Each list was a window into a person's life (even if that "person" were Bilbo Baggins or Dostoyevsky's Father Zossima from THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV).

If ever I became a truly enlightened person? What would be on my list. Let me guess: a box of loose black Indian tea, a pot to boil water, a few (far less than 6,000) good books, a sweater, a jacket, two or three changes of clothing including wool socks, stout walking shoes, reading glasses, a hat -- and that's about it.

Oh yes, and one other thing -- a sense of wonder.