Reviews for Proceedings of the International Conference on Soft Soil Engineering Recent Advances in Soft...

The average rating for Proceedings of the International Conference on Soft Soil Engineering Recent Advances in Soft... based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-05-11 00:00:00 Scott Woodward Last year, I read Walking: One Step At a Time by Erling Kagge. It was a perfect pick for quarantine and a deep metaphor overall. It could be a companion piece to Arnold Haultain’s Of Walks and Walking Tours: An Attempt to find a Philosophy and a Creed. What is amazing is they were written over 100 years apart. Haultain starts his 1914 book with a few pages on golf and walking, “Many are the indictments which are brought against Golf: that it is a deplorable waster of time; that it depletes the purse; that it divorces husband and wife; that it delays the dinner-hour, freckles fair feminine faces, upsets domestic arrangements, and unhinges generally the mental balance of its devotees.” He goes on to say, “It repays expenditure of time and money with interest in the form of health and good spirits.” He has a fun turn-of-phrase and self-deprecates. Both endear the reader to his brevity. This is a short book. Chapters run but a few pages. Chapter two hits upon walking’s point, “the essence of a country walk is that you shall have no object or aim whatsoever.” And, “we take with us a vacuous mind, it must be a plenable mind (if I may coin the word), a serenely responsive mind; otherwise we shall not reap the harvest of a quiet eye.” He recalls walks in India and many in Canada. Specific chapters include Spirituality of Nature, Practical Transcendentalism, The Mood for Walking, Evening Meditations, and The Instinct for Walking. It is clear, the author sees something grand in walking and its benefits demand reverence. He does well sharing what it does for his body and soul. There are also practical tips including what to pack for food. His walks are not short, nor easy. We may call them treks, even hikes. He speaks of 40 mile outings that come across as normal. Loose clothing is suggested and some money to smooth any “rough place”. He recommends avoiding alcohol, as it, “spells ruination to muscular exertion the moment the stimulus has passed off.” Tea is his go-to. And, Haultain’s favourite food is bannock. This amazed as I recently wrote about bannock’s renaissance and have been known to bring it on hikes. It is so good and easy to whip up. His explanation for hiking over other activities is great, “For one thing, horses have to be baited, boats caulked, bicycles pumped up, balloons inflated, and motor cars eternally tinkered at—aeroplanes fly far beyond my welkin. For another thing, not the least of the practical blessings incident to a walk is that you are beyond the reach of letters and telegrams and telephones. You are not likely to be served with a writ when walking; you can laugh at capiases and injunctions; drafts at sight and judgment summonses cannot easily overtake you on a trudge.” Seems like Haultain had lots of legal problems. Here is some deep stuff, he confronts criticism that walking is a selfish activity, “We are too gregarious. We live too much in herds, and we consider too much what the herd will think of our petty individual ways. Civilisation is not an unmixed boon, and artificial combinations of men taint the natural simplicity of the race. In combining together for mutual protection against a common foe we forget that sometimes a man's foes are those of his own household.” I could not argue the majority of thought and insight. Yet, the author comes across as a bit of a curmudgeon. After reflection, he is not. Haultain only means to share and protect the value of walking’s solitary nature. He wants the reader to go at it alone, to make the experience and benefits highly personal. He wants us to walk the world off.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-08-29 00:00:00 AMEEN Ahmad Basic understanding of philosophy - 3* Not the best for my assignment but a basic understanding and a nice 'glossy' book.