Just looking

On Looking: About Everything 

There is to See

by Alexandra Horowitz

I like to think that I'm an observant walker. That I notice the unusual, the out of place and the weirdness of everyday life. That I take pleasure in spotting small flashes of extraordinary beauty in my neighbourhood. 



However, reading Alexandra Horowitz's book has made me wonder how I would see my streets if I was a geologist, an ornithologist, a toddler. 

This book goes some way to telling me. 

A 'boring' street is a riot of colour, shape and interestingness to a small boy or girl with little language; it is a dog social network every bit as exciting to a canine pal as Twitter. To someone who know all about beetles, bugs and butterflies, it's a living habitat, literally buzzing. A birder will spot the sounds and traces of our feathered friends. To a geologist it is a map of thousands of years of Earth history - yes, even tarmac. 

There were chapters of the book I was less interested in, such as the medical one although there were lessons to be learned about observing people as individuals and not simply obstructions, or the walk with the artist where I didn't feel particularly convinced by what she'd learned (except to never pass up the opportunity to poke your head around an open door) but others, such as observing how people *behave* on the street, I found utterly absorbing. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will probably re-read certain chapters. It has certainly inspired me to make a New Year's resolution to take time to stand and stare and to see familiar routes as constantly refreshing and renewing themselves across days, weeks, years. 

Or to take a quote from a writer, John Burroughs, mentioned in the book, "To find new things, take the path you took yesterday."