Dog Walks Man: A Six-Legged Odyssey [Paperback]

A humorous, thoughtful, absorbing narrative about
the metaphysical joys of a simple daily task



Imagine if Annie Dillard had taken a dog along with her to Tinker Creek. Now imagine Tinker Creek was a New Jersey suburb, and you have an idea of the surprises that await in John Zeaman's book. Humorous, thought-provoking, and playful,Dog Walks Manmight also be calledZen and the Art of Dog Walking.Zeaman takes us on a journey from a 'round-the-block fraternity of “dog-walking dupes”—suburban fathers who indulged their children's wish for a dog—to a strange and forbidden wonderland at the edge of town: the New Jersey Meadowlands. Along the way he rediscovers childhood's forgotten “fringe places,” investigates the mysteries of the natural world, and experiences moments of inexplicable joy.

Each chapter ofDog Walks Manis a bite-size meditation on the wisdom derived from dogs and dog walking. Woven into the narrative are musings on such familiar dog-walking issues as the war of nerves that precedes each walk (or “w-a-l-k” if your dog is in earshot), the problem of dog-walking monotony, and why dog walkers are always the ones to discover dead bodies. This is also the story of Pete, the prescient standard poodle who begins as the “family glue” and evolves into Zeaman's partner on a journey through an abandoned landscape as alive as any jungle.

Above all,Dog Walks Manis about a search for wholeness in an increasingly artificial world. It is about discovering what Thoreau meant when he wrote, in his seminal essay “Walking,”“Life consists with wildness.” Because the truth is, something as simple as walking the dog can open up unexpected worlds.

An excerpt

In the beginning, I walked around the block. Or a couple of blocks. It didn't seem to matter. That it didn't matter was in itself novel. It hal3á