The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad

"When I was sent a copy of this book, I thought I knew what it was going to be about, and it wasn’t quite what I expected. It isn’t just a philosophical reflection on what it’s like to go on a journey, it’s actually historically informed by what philosophers have done when they’ve travelled and what they’ve thought about. Emily is herself addicted to travelling and has done a lot of it, including traveling across Alaska. That’s pretty amazing, and appears in the book. So, there’s a personal voice, a personal story, along with this really fascinating investigation of what travel has meant for a number of different philosophers and how it’s opened up new perspectives and unexpected ways of thinking. For instance, one that stands out for me is the meaning of mountains and why they might be attractive as places to visit. I’d never encountered the idea that the beginning of tourism to mountains coincided with views about mountains being God’s work and how that opened up a new way of appreciating mountains. “It’s a good time to stop and think about what travel means to us” She’s taken a series of topics from the history of travel, from the 17th century onwards, and showed why this is a really interesting and important area for philosophers to consider. The only other book I’ve come across previously about the philosophy of travel was Alain de Botton’s book, The Art of Travel , which is a much more whimsical, idiosyncratic book about the topic. Emily combines a personal voice with highly informative, well-researched glimpses of particular philosophical travellers. And she’s pulled off a really good book that is directed at the general public. It’s accessible and it’s entertaining, but also opens up interesting philosophical ideas. It’s very original. That’s one of the reasons I chose it. It’s not the book you’d expect somebody to write about the philosophy of travel – like a good journey it can surprise you. She’s also got a sense of humour; it’s not a heavy book. It’s the kind of book that in other times you might have read on a long journey, but actually it might have greater success because of the inability of most us to travel at the moment. It’s a good time to stop and think about what travel means to us. It’s much more poignant now, when you can’t travel. You can think, ‘What have I lost? Those encounters with otherness, how important are they in life?’ And I think Emily Thomas makes a case, through these cases studies, that it’s incredibly important, and that we neglect it at our peril. There is going to be a huge cost, imaginatively and intellectually, for many of us by being confined in our country or in our bubbles."

"Emily Thomas’s original and fun book The Meaning of Travel is my top pick in a year when travel is going to be difficult. One of the joys of the book is she’s found so many great quotations from philosophers on the topic."