The Walk Pocket BooksNo. 1
A spotter’s book
Twelve things to look out forSheet 287
Inside the cover
This book belongs to
The rules. Only tick what you’ve actually seen. Thinking about it counts, but only a bit.
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How to use this book
Philosophy has a reputation for being done indoors by people who don’t get out much. Most of it is out here, hiding in ordinary things.
This book lists twelve of them. When you spot one, tick it off and add the points to your score. Some turn up every day. Some you might wait years for.
There are 250 points to find, and a few more for honesty.
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No. 1
Where to look: on the side, next to a book.
Made, forgotten, found an hour later with a skin on it. You were busy arguing with someone who died in 1900, and losing. That’s what reading philosophy is actually like, and it’s one of my favourite feelings.
5pts
3
No. 2
Where to look: riverbanks, golf courses, allotments.
Nobody asks the man painting the river what it’s doing for his career. Philosophy deserves the same freedom. Wanting to know what the hell Heidegger meant is reason enough.
10pts
4
No. 3
Where to look: fridge doors, phones, the back of a hand.
Look at what isn’t on it. The things that end up changing what you want never are, because you couldn’t have known to want them until you met them. Leave a bit of the page blank.
10pts
5
No. 4
Where to look: billboards, annual reports, anything about AI.
A machine halves the time a job takes. That’s faster, and you can measure it. Whether it’s progress depends on why you were doing the job and what you’ll do with the hour. More power just gives you more to decide.
15pts
6
No. 5
Where to look: your pocket.
Ask it to explain Kant and it will, patiently, all night. Notice the gap between an answer that sounds convincing and seeing why it’s right. Double points if you catch that gap in yourself.
15pts
7
No. 6
Where to look: any kitchen, the morning after any party.
Same evening, two completely different accounts, and neither of them is lying. How that’s possible has kept philosophers busy for about two and a half thousand years.
20pts
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No. 7
Where to look: old photos, mirrors, school reunions.
Most of your cells replaced, most of your opinions revised, and it’s still you. Heraclitus said you can’t step in the same river twice. We all keep stepping in it anyway.
20pts
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No. 8
Where to look: your usual way to work.
Then one idea changes how you see it. The old wall has a story, the trees are up to something. Nothing out there changed. Your attention has more to work with, and the place feels more alive. So do you.
25pts
10
No. 9
Where to look: halfway through telling someone why they’re wrong.
The moment you realise you’re not sure any more. Rare in the wild and easily frightened. Stay very still and let it happen.
25pts
11
No. 10
Where to look: corners of parks, verges, wherever a planner guessed wrong.
The shortcut walkers wear into the grass. Nobody designed it. Someone went first, and now everybody goes that way. What we do opens paths for the people who come after us, or closes them. That’s syntropology, more or less.
30pts
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No. 11
Where to look: meetings, pubs, comment sections.
Usually said about something people made, and could make differently. A good deal of philosophy is people who heard that and went to check.
25pts
13
No. 12
Where to look: charity shops, other people’s shelves, the odd tree.
The best ones find you sideways. Pick it up anyway. Most of the good things in my life started like that, and it’s what I most want to happen to you. There’s a second-hand copy of mine pinned to a tree somewhere on this walk.
50pts
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How did you do?
0out of 250
Nothing spotted yet. Have a look around.
No prizes, but I’d love to hear how you got on, and which one you spotted first.
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Also in this series
Published on Sheet 287. Printed on the walk. For curious people of all ages.
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