The Way Around: A Field Guide to Going Nowhere

by Nicholas Triolo

For readers of Robert Macfarlane, Rebecca Solnit, and Robert Moor, a multidimensional exploration of ecology, revolution, and homecoming. Growing up in northern California, in a family of high-achieving athletes, Nicholas Triolo was imbued with a particularly acute form of our intensely goal-oriented culture. “Do the reps,” he internalized. “Commit to the work. Grind for your dreams.” Shortly after graduating from college, he embarked on a solo circumnavigation of the globe. And then after returning to the States, he threw himself into ultrarunning, all to combat a deepening discontent.

While traveling around the world, it was in Kathmandu that Triolo first encountered kora, a form of moving prayer in which pilgrims walk in circles around a sacred site or object—a kind of “ritualized remembering” birthed by place. Unable to shake this initial encounter with circumambulation, he sets out here on three such extended walks. First, he completes the sacred thirty-two-mile revolution around Tibet’s Mount Kailash, in search of a cultural counter to Western linearity. Then, following his mother’s diagnosis with breast cancer, he returns home to California and takes part in an annual circuit of Mount Tamalpais, tracing a route made famous by Beat poets Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Allen Ginsberg. And then finally, he meets up with a quirky hydrogeologist in Butte, Montana, and joins his walk around the Berkeley Pit Complex, the largest Superfund site in the country.

At once uncommonly humble and thrillingly transcendent, blurring the boundaries of inner and outer landscapes, The Way Around models what it means to experience a true revolution of heart and home—for the flourishing of all.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Travel, Walking

224 pages, Hardcover

Published July 8, 2025

Reviews

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written and readable book about the author’s decades old obsession with walking in large circles. Think of a way better prepared version of Cheryl Strayed and Bill Bryson, mixed with a bit of Dean Karnazes and Christopher McDougall (but more thoughtful and introspective). This will give readers a look into who is at the center (hint, it’s not humans), and the power of compassion and healing gained through introspection that comes from pushing one’s body.

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated the themes of deep ecology, spirituality, and walking in light of our current historical moment and the degradation of the earth. The way it was structured was very meandering, maybe that was intentional since the point of the book was cycles and circularity vs linear progress, but it threw me off a little. Had hoped he would explore more world religions that circumambulate, but overall, it was interesting.

[Ian Harmon]

‘Perhaps this is what I crave most: to lose myself through this kind of devotion, an aspirational pilgrimming into union, an endurance event that merges me with what I inherently know to already be mine, remembered through a surrender “to forget ourselves, to be surprised out of our own propriety…in short, to draw a new circle.”’

[Josh Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this debut from Nicholas Triolo, one of my most anticipated books of 2025. In the prologue, he asks, “What if surviving the perilous times ahead requires us to identify with a different trajectory—one that relies on questing and returning, achieving and relinquishing, one that centers mystery and humility as a way home?”

He answers that question slowly and poetically through three pilgrimages: around Mount Kailash in Tibet, Mount Tamalpais in Northern California, and finally the Berkeley Pit Complex in Montana. Each journey follows a circular pattern known as kora—a several-thousand-year-old practice Triolo first encountered in Kathmandu. A kind of moving prayer, kora invites ritualized remembering by walking around sacred sites or objects.

Triolo is a powerhouse of curiosity, a master of prose, and my favorite kind of explorer: one immersed in contemplative thought. His writing brims with humility, reverence, and a deep ecological awareness. Reading this book felt like sitting at the end of a dock, legs dangling over a pond, peering into the water for frogs and snapping turtles—only to find yourself staring back at your own reflection and contemplating the meaning of life.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Triolo and I seem to have read all the same books, so this short and sweet saunter around three places felt like a conversation with a friend, or sometimes a more eloquent description of the thoughts in my own head! He writes, “Mountains can be geological treasures, cosmological repositories to store cultural memory and orientation, not simply fast-twitch attempts to win a summit or plant a flag.” I like to say that the whole hike is the view, not just the summit. He expands this idea with his focus on the shape of the circle and the practice of circumambulation: “ Encircling offers an opportunity to bear witness to a place, a person, or a Self from every vantage point, an honorable surveillance to be with and fully attend, to accompany every exposure and perspective and behavior of another, analogous to spending time with a close friend or lover and offering presence to all their idiosyncrasies.” I can’t wait to get to know Mount Tamalpais better!

[Macy Ratliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is perhaps nothing more fascinating than reading and seeing through the eyes of an exquisite observer and writer,( Nick Triolo) , the essence of a profound shared experience. What an incredible book!

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice read recommended by Shelly Murray. I like the concept of a circumambulation. I love that the second loop is Mount Tamalpais. I was a huge fan of The Beats. Cool to read about Gary Snyder (Japhy Ryder) creating the Mount Tam route after his travels to SE Asia and Japan.

[Matthew Encinas · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is A special book

Sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways. For example, stumbling across a book when you need it the most. What a wonderful journey.

[John]

Thoughtful, contemplative, creative, insightful.

[Andrew Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty okay read. I really liked the symbolism and the personal connection the author threw out there.