By Robert Moor

On Trails explores how paths—ant trails, hiking routes, highways, and the Internet—shape the world. While thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, Robert Moor wondered how trails form, persist, or vanish and why we follow or diverge. Over seven years he traveled globally, studying trails from tiny to vast, learning from master trail-builders, tracing Cherokee paths, and mapping road and Internet origins. Each chapter blends his journeys with science, history, philosophy, and nature writing to show how trails illuminate big questions: how order emerges from chaos, how life spread, how humans shape nature and technology, and how individuals choose their way. Moor combines essayistic insight, adventurous curiosity, and philosophical probing to make us see history, nature, and ourselves anew.

Dimensions: 8.3”H x 5.5”W

352 pages. Paperback. Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc.