Of Walking in Ice review by Josh

Werner Herzog's writing moves effortlessly between fact and fiction and it's often hard to tell which is which. Sometimes it's not even clear if he knows.

This book is, as the title suggests, his journal of a hike he took in 1974 from Munich to Paris (~800 km). He broke into abandoned houses and barns to sleep occasionally steal some food. The walk itself would likely have been fairly easy had he taken it in the spring, but in the winter he had to fight regular storms.

Because the book is written in a stream of consciousness form, it's difficult to say much more about what it is about. It's about whatever stood out to Herzog from the day's events. Sometimes these are big things and other times they are so small that any other narrator would not have commented on them.

If the book has a theme it is that the world looks different on foot than viewed from the window of a car or train. You see things that you would miss and think about them differently.

Overall, this is probably my least favorite of Herzog's books, but it's still interesting to spend a few hours inside his head.