On Looking

Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes

By: Alexandra Horowitz

Narrated by: Alexandra Horowitz

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Inside of a Dog and The Year of the Puppy, this “elegant and entertaining” (The Boston Globe) explanation of how humans perceive their environments “does more than open our eyes...opens our hearts and minds, too, gently awakening us to a world—in fact, many worlds—we’ve been missing” (USA TODAY).

Alexandra Horowitz shows us how to see the spectacle of the ordinary—to practice, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle put it, “the observation of trifles.” Structured around a series of eleven walks the author takes, mostly in her Manhattan neighborhood, On Looking features experts on a diverse range of subjects, including an urban sociologist, the well-known artist Maira Kalman, a geologist, a physician, and a sound designer. Horowitz also walks with a child and a dog to see the world as they perceive it. What they see, how they see it, and why most of us do not see the same things reveal the startling power of human attention and the cognitive aspects of what it means to be an expert observer.

Page by page, Horowitz shows how much more there is to see—if only we would really look. Trained as a cognitive scientist, she discovers a feast of fascinating detail, all explained with her generous humor and self-deprecating tone. So turn off the phone and other electronic devices and be in the real world—where strangers communicate by geometry as they walk toward one another, where sounds reveal shadows, where posture can display humility, and the underside of a leaf unveils a Lilliputian universe—where, indeed, there are worlds within worlds within worlds.

Mind openning if you take it slow

You may want to listen to this book a few times to really "get it". There is no big moment in the narration, just continual examples of the details that we miss because we only see what we expect to see. The narrator is enjoyable.

Riveting

Beautifully read. A call to unleashing your curiosity in any location, especially ones you have become accustomed to.

A simple concept when you stop to appreciate it.

I loved this book. I was completely immersed it it, and the ideas behind what we attend to have stuck with me. I keep talking about it to friends and family - trying hard to get everyone else to read it. While I did initially want a different reader, the voice and pace grew on me.

Your daily walk will never be the same!

Loved this book so much. listened to it on a few of my daily walks and it was like being gifted with new eyes. always be curious of others perspectives!

Excellent!!

Excellent!
Interesting! Well read! A great enjoyment and addition to my own walks and long drives!