Robert Moor

A wanderer’s dream, even from an armchair

An inspired exploration of the collective wisdom of trails. The warm, sinuous line of the 
narrative is its own reward

William Finnegan author of Barbarian Days, praise for On Trails

This marvellous debut is the fruit of miles of walking and years of research. Moor began it after tackling the Appalachian Trail between Georgia and Maine. He considers the trails made by insects, animals and man and the purposes to which they have been put, from finding food to building empires. He hikes everywhere from Canada to Morocco, considering the trail as everything from a means of recreation to a metaphor for life

The Telegraph, The 20 best travel books of 2016, praise for On Trails

This book is about so many things: about breaking down the binary between ‘humanity’ 
and ‘nature,’ ‘civilization’ and ‘the wild.’ It’s an exploration of exploring, a philosophical-psychological-journalistic adventure in the tradition of Michael Pollan and Rebecca Solnit. … Not all who wander are lost, and Moor helps us see what they seek

Part natural history, part scientific inquiry, but most of all a deeply thoughtful human 
meditation on how we walk through life, Moor’s book is enchanting

Hanging with [Moor] you meet a host of different byways, get in (and out) of trouble and the experience is not just enlightening, it’s sweaty, hot, cold and…well, to say it plainly…fun

Robert Krulwich, “Curiously Krulwich,” National Geographic, praise for On Trails

He brilliantly synthesizes his own hiking experiences so that distinctions between history, 
science, and philosophy meld into a beautiful book

The National Book Review, praise for On Trails

An ingeniously conceived collection... Like Tom Vanderbilt’s Traffic, Moor’s book is an appealing mix of the physical and philosophical

National Post, “The books you should be reading in July”, praise for On Trails

A beautiful thing to behold. … what a profoundly talented writer Moor is. He brings a keen essayist's eye to themes both personal and empiric; his prose is lush and lively and his analysis adroit — all making On Trails a true treat to read

Moor’s On Trails is a thoroughly researched blend of science and philosophy that offers a 
fresh perspective on the lived world

...…a deeply informed study of the nature and history of trailmaking…There are revelations 
at every turn here, from the nature of shepherding, to the vast network of ancient animal 
and Native American trails that underlie modern North America, to the very qualities of the best trails - durability, efficiency, and flexibility - and how we learn from them even as we move beyond them

Alan Moores, Booklist Starred Review, praise for On Trails

For a combination of adventure physical and intellectual, this book is tough to beat. ... It’s 
the perfect companion for a long hike someplace down the trail

Bill McKibben author The End of Nature and Wandering Home, praise for On Trails

Robert Moor’s primer on the history of trails is a literary gem, encompassing everything 
from insect travel to road-building in Colonial America. Addictive readers and knowledge 
junkies, however, should be careful. On Trails is a whirlpool of fact that will suck you in and 
not let go

Rinker Buck author of The Oregon Trail, praise for On Trails

This strange and delightful book combines the best elements of travelogue, science 
writing, and spiritual guidebook. The work of a curious, hungry, eccentric, and profoundly 
secular mind, it leaps from ants to elephants to the Internet to us in beautiful, looping 
prose. You can find something brilliant and enlightening on every page. While Moor hikes 
his trail through our world, teaching you amazing things you never imagined learning, he 
also manages to be not just entertaining but actually funny. In the end though, his goal is to 
show us that our own species, and the other species with whom we share the planet, have 
a trail-hardened wisdom that, respected properly, might just save us all from catastrophe

Amy Wilentz, author of Farewell, Fred Voodoo, praise for On Trails

Here is an erudite meditation on the communities of creatures who roam the planet, and 
how they decide where to go. Robert Moor’s eye scans from the dirt beneath his boot to 
the wide expanse of animal movement through time and through space. He is a pilgrim 
and a philosopher, walking and wondering, talking to thinkers and thinking wisely on his 
own; and his book is a lively companion, whether for your own long walks or for 
contemplating the lines we make across fields and through snow

Ted Conover author of The Routes of Man and Rolling Nowhere, praise for On Trails

Robert Moor gets you thinking. What is the meaning of trails in human history, ecology, 
the journeys of life? Gary Snyder and dharma, E.O. Wilson and ants, the International 
Appalachian Trail? It’s a sinuous route to a robust relationship between feet and 
landscape. Walk on

David Quammen author of Spillover and The Song of the Dodo, praise for On Trails

My old professor used to say, no matter how good a book is there is always a ‘however.’ 
However, I don't have a however with On Trails. This book is a gift to those of us who like 
to let our minds and feet wander. As a guide Robert Moor is deeply knowledgeable, 
entertaining, easy-going, erudite, and funny, leading us on a trip that winds around the 
world and culminates in a profound discussion of the meaning of human wisdom. He 
shows us that connectivity didn’t start with a keyboard, but on the pathways that we 
created as those same pathways were creating us. With this inspiring book as your map, 
you can indulge in those twin passions that made us human: thinking and walking

David Gessner, author of All the Wild That Remains, praise for On Trails

Profound and interesting, it dwells on big questions and brings together an engaging collection of facts and stories

Book Riot, One of the best Science/Nature books published this summer, praise for On Trails

Like Michel de Montaigne, Mr. Moor writes about one subject as a way of touching on 100 others…The thicket of information here comes to resemble a densely wooded trail itself–one that Mr. Moor expertly navigates. He’s a philosopher on foot, recording his journey through miles of wilderness and through a mind sorting out the meaning of travel itself … The only constant in On Trails is the promise of surprise

The Wall Street Journal, praise for On Trails

As an instrument of culture, like a text or a play, a trail, Mr. Moor suggest, is a conversation–an exchange in which the traveler, though his own use of the pathway, subtly shapes its continuing evolution

A hike becomes a classic when it takes hold of a person like a memorable story - when the journey is marked by surprises. On Trails, the first book by American journalist Robert Moor, embodies this. It is a surprising story of trails as Moor takes us on disparate journeys…As Moor walks, his bigger themes coalesce - and evolve. [His] exploration becomes a consideration of the trail/path of life, where to walk, how to live

 The Globe and Mail, praise for On Trails

You might think of Robert Moor as the Roger Angell of trail-walking. Just as Angell’s reports on specific baseball games segue effortlessly into reflections on the venerable sport itself, so Moor looks up from whatever trail he may be on to see the big picture. Which is often very big, indeed... Highly satisfying … On Trails is an engaging blend of travelogue, sociology, history and philosophy that might be summed up as a meditation on the centrality of trails to animal and human life

The Washington Post, praise for On Trails

As for Moor, I’ll remember him…as the thoughtful stylist who turns out sentences as simple and eloquent as this: ‘As they do for ants and elephants, [sheep] trails function as a form of external memory’

Stunning … a wondrous nonfiction debut. … In each chapter, Moor explores the same phenomenon in a surprising new context, from the fossilized traces of prehistoric smudges to swaths of jungle flattened by elephants, from the paths of nomadic Native Americans to the interstates that paved them over. Along the way, Moor reaches into the history of science, religion, and philosophy to trace similar lines of refinement in the amassing of knowledge and ideas. … It’s an exhilarating journey

A wonderfully rich and human book. It is a trail all on its own, marked by the procession of internal contemplation and idea-spinning that a long solitary walk in the woods can produce. Moor is interested in everything, with a knack for communicating that curiosity to the reader … Fascinating facts fall fast and furiously … He has succeeded admirably. Thru-hikers be warned: you’ll be ditching some essentials to make room for On Trails in your pack

 Portland Press Herald, praise for On Trails

In the hallowed tradition of Robert Macfarlane, Moor’s beautiful travelogue is a meditation 
on trails: as cultural space, as history, as intimate terrain. This is just the ticket for your big 
summer adventure

San Francisco Chronicle, praise for On Trails

The best outdoors book of the year… An outstanding work that should be read by anyone who has spent time following a footpath through the woods. Robert Moor’s debut book, On Trails, trips through natural history, anthropology, gonzo reporter’s adventures, and memoir in a ramble that unpacks the many meanings of the routes we humans and other animals sketch on the land. … The prologue alone is worth the price of admission: a nearly-30-page set piece about hiking the A.T. that puts Bill Bryson and Cheryl Strayed to shame. (Moor actually, you know, completed the full thru-hike.)

[An] engrossing meditation on trails in animal and human societies…Moor combines vivid 
reportage told in supple prose with lucid explorations of science and history in an 
absorbing account of how travelers shape and are shaped by the land they pass through

A sagacious walker and writer guides us on a new journey of discovery, a different kind of 
road trip about roads themselves and what they mean… this is a fine guide to places with 
better views of the world

Moor’s writing compares better with wilderness philosophers like Annie Dillard or Edward Abbey. Each chapter of this GQ writer’s debut work is packed with ideas, switch backing to and fro. Each idea is so carefully portrayed and deeply fascinating that I had to stop and catch my breath often. … It’s a beautiful trek through the human and natural landscapes of modern life

Chicago Review of Books, praise for On Trails

Chockful of historical trivia, philosophical musings, and an unflagging sense of joy in 
winding one’s way through both the outdoors and the inner self, Moor’s multi-dimensional 
exploration earns him a place on the map of writers to watch. … Moor [is] an elegant 
essayist and fastidious researcher. … Whether perambulating or cogitating, if you love to 
follow a twisting path, making unexpected connections between Point A and Point B, you’ll 
love the literary adventure of nonfiction writer Robert Moor’s compelling debut

 Passport Magazine, praise for On Trails

Spectacular... an example of narrative nonfiction at its finest. Those with a passion for walking, hiking or exploring will be naturally drawn to Moor's subject, but this is so much more than a subject-specific story; it is a book that poses big questions about humanity's place in the world (literally and figuratively) and how we've come to be here—and it's fascinating to its very end

Hiker and journalist Moor [is] the rare thru-hiker whose philosophical ramblings you’ll 
actually want to read. … [A] treatise on how trails—the ones we plan and the ones we 
accidentally leave behind—shape our culture

[Moor] begins as a hiker, wondering why the path he’s on veers this way but not that way, and just who might’ve authored that path’s direction, but ends up subjecting more existential paths–"'spiritual paths,’ ‘career paths,’ ‘paths to wellness’"-to this same inquiry

Garden & Gun Magazine, praise for On Trails

On Trails teems with scientific and historical anecdotes…little flowers of information bloom on the graceful canes of Moor’s prose. He’s erudite, witty, and relentlessly curious

There are revelations at every turn here, from the nature of shepherding, to the vast network of ancient animal and Native American trails that underlie modern North America, to the very qualities of the best trails—durability, efficiency, and flexibility—and how we learn from them even as we move beyond them....[A] deeply informed study of nature and history of trailmaking

Booklist, Starred Review, praise for On Trails

[A] fascinating debut … both fun and intriguing. … Following Moor’s trails in this book opens many fascinating vistas

 The Seattle Times, praise for On Trails

Moor is interested in everything, with a knack for communicating that curiosity to the reader … Fascinating facts fall fast and furiously … He has succeeded admirably

Portland Press Herald, praise for On Trails

…Moor combines vivid reportage told in supple prose with lucid explorations of science and history in an absorbing account of how travelers shape and are shaped by the land they pass through

...Moor’s multi-dimensional exploration earns him a place on the map of writers to watch. … Moor [is] an elegant essayist and fastidious researcher. … Whether perambulating or cogitating, if you love to 
follow a twisting path, making unexpected connections between Point A and Point B, you’ll 
love the literary adventure of nonfiction writer Robert Moor’s compelling debut

When I ask myself how a person should live, this is the advice I now turn to: Learn to branch out like a tree, to let go like a tree, to weather hardship like a tree, to rise above like a tree, to set down roots like a tree. In a scarred and storm-battered world, we couldn’t hope to find wiser teachers. 
 
One day, on a whim, Robert Moor set out to climb a tree near his home, unwittingly embarking on what would become a decade-long, globe-spanning adventure in trees. 
 
From Darwin to Attenborough, Brecht to Wordsworth, cutting-edge scientists and Zen monks and Bonsai artists, In Trees explores the fundamental and meaningful role of trees in the natural world. 
 
From Ethiopia and Papua to the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Lake District, join award-winning, bestselling author Robert Moor to uncover the hidden art of "tree-thinking", a powerful tool to break open humanities oldest questions: what is the secret to growing old well? How do we set down deeper roots in an increasingly chaotic world? And most importantly, how should we—as individuals, as communities, as stewards of the earth—live? 
 
Weaving together history, ecology, philosophy, neuroscience, mythology, literature, and the human-like qualities of identity, belonging and memory, In Trees shares extraordinary stories of how trees have become embedded in our culture, lifestyle and imagination for centuries, becoming the key to almost everything in the universe. 
 
What began as an ode to the miracle of trees blossoms into a joyous, daring, fiercely hopeful endeavour that reveals… 
 
To truly grasp the wisdom of a tree, you need to begin thinking like one.

Robert Moor

Praise for In Trees

A wanderer’s dream, even from an armchair

An inspired exploration of the collective wisdom of trails. The warm, sinuous line of the
narrative is its own reward

This marvellous debut is the fruit of miles of walking and years of research. Moor began it after tackling the Appalachian Trail between Georgia and Maine. He considers the trails made by insects, animals and ...

A wanderer’s dream, even from an armchair

An inspired exploration of the collective wisdom of trails. The warm, sinuous line of the
narrative is its own reward

This marvellous debut is the fruit of miles of walking and years of research. Moor began it after tackling the Appalachian Trail between Georgia and Maine. He considers the trails made by insects, animals and ...

A wanderer’s dream, even from an armchair

An inspired exploration of the collective wisdom of trails. The warm, sinuous line of the
narrative is its own reward

This marvellous debut is the fruit of miles of walking and years of research. Moor began it after tackling the Appalachian Trail between Georgia and Maine. He considers the trails made by insects, animals and ...

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Praise for In Trees

A wanderer’s dream, even from an armchair

An inspired exploration of the collective wisdom of trails. The warm, sinuous line of the narrative is its own reward

This marvellous debut is the fruit of miles of walking and years of research. Moor began it after tackling the Appalachian Trail between Georgia and Maine. He considers the trails made by insects, animals and ...

A wanderer’s dream, even from an armchair

An inspired exploration of the collective wisdom of trails. The warm, sinuous line of the narrative is its own reward

This marvellous debut is the fruit of miles of walking and years of research. Moor began it after tackling the Appalachian Trail between Georgia and Maine. He considers the trails made by insects, animals and ...

A wanderer’s dream, even from an armchair

An inspired exploration of the collective wisdom of trails. The warm, sinuous line of the narrative is its own reward

This marvellous debut is the fruit of miles of walking and years of research. Moor began it after tackling the Appalachian Trail between Georgia and Maine. He considers the trails made by insects, animals and ...

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter

An inspired exploration of the collective wisdom of trails. The warm, sinuous line of the
narrative is its own reward

An inspired exploration of the collective wisdom of trails. The warm, sinuous line of the
narrative is its own reward

An inspired exploration of the collective wisdom of trails. The warm, sinuous line of the
narrative is its own reward