If you are looking for a respite from a hectic, busy life and wish you had more time to think and explore the world around you, The Wander Society might just be able to help. The only problem is you need to find them first. Thankfully author Keri Smith (who wrote the best selling book Wreck This Journal) has done all the leg work and gathered all of her research in one place. Her book The Wander Society will give you something to think about, and maybe even help you find the time to do it.

Keri Smith first discovered a glimpse of The Wander Society a couple of years ago when she discovered handwritten notations in the margins of a copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass that she had picked up at a used bookstore. She could have ignored the scribblings that talked about The Wander Society, but instead she decided to explore it further. She discovered many things along the way, including authors, artists and thinkers from the past who are considered to be part of the group, as well as different ways that wandering can help feed your spirit and inspire your mind. She also gives advice on how you too can become a wanderer, and how to do it properly. Inside the book you’ll find the origins of the group, their philosophies, what you need to bring along on your journey, and even step by step instructions on how to make your own walking sticks, pouches and badges.  Best of all it even shows you how to get excited for something all over again, even if it’s an ordinary, every day activity like walking.

The Wander Society by Keri Smith is listed as a self-help book, and it can be if you decide to follow the very basic lifestyle she describes. Unfortunately Smith herself invented the group for the purposes of the book, and when you discover that it takes a little something away from it. Still, the philosophy is sound and inspiring, and the writing draws you in.  You will find several helpful hints that will help you slow down the world around you just a little. Who knows, maybe sects of The Wander Society will start to pop up in a city or town near you, now that they have been created.

The Wander Society by Keri Smith is available in bookstores now.