Loading...
64th out of 387 books
—
335 voters
My rating:
add to my books
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers/Walden/The Maine Woods/Cape Cod
The library of America is dedicated to publishing America's best and most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts. Hailed as the "finest-looking, longest-lasting editions ever made" (The New Republic), Library of America volumes make a fine gift for any occasion. Now, with exactly one hundred volumes to choose from, there ...more
cloth, 1114 pages
Published
September 15th 1989
by Library of America
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
496)
I just read Walden from this compilation of Thoreau’s writing, but I skimmed the rest. I’ve heard Thoreau quoted so many times throughout my life, and have never picked up one of his books. I think Walden is probably his most well-known work, and therefore, a good place to start. He has good insights for the reader and has a way of bringing a thought to a concise statement to get his point across.
He lives out in the woods for 2 years, and in that time, builds a house, plants a field...more
He lives out in the woods for 2 years, and in that time, builds a house, plants a field...more
i enjoyed it deeply, but there were times i felt he rambled on and on and on...almost getting stuck on a particular subject----at certain times i wanted to tell him to shut up. but i also came to realize that the rambling may be necessary for "city folks" ,who have not had the fortune to spend time outdoors or the southern folks who have never lived though a northern winter. but also, there were times that i could not stop reading ......he had my full attention and imagination. it was ...more
Thoreau is a very intellectual man with beautiful naturalistic beliefs that he incorporates into his descriptive books. However, over 300 pages of describing a week on the river is a bit much for me, personally speaking. Thoreau had wonderful points to make about Nature, but trashing the other religions for an entire chapter was a bit harsh. Cape Cod was much better and easier because there was actual dialogue, but Thoreau remains one of the hardest authors I've ever read. Sometimes I like chall...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Elizabeth Phelps
added it
Cape Cod and Walden are my personal favorites. A Week of the Concord and Merrimack Rivers will take you some time to trudge through, but then you'll be finished and you'll start Walden and life will be grand again!
Jay D
added it
Yawn. Vomit. Terrible. Apart from a few interesting aphorisms and neat-o classical references, this book is a colossal waste of time from a pantheistic nature worshipper.
I realized that I'm not rereading Walden, but that I'm always reading Walden.
Sarah Bauer
is currently reading it
So far, seriously loving Walden.
I call Shenanigans! You barely ever lived in the woods! It wasn't even the real woods, it was property of Ralph Waldo Emerson. You had so many parties on Walden Pond you were almost never alone! In jail for tax evasion! Neck-bearded Blueblood, I can't believe in you.
thoreau is one of my favorite authors. thoreau's take on the world only becomes more applicable over time. i particulary dig "civil disobedience", "life without principle", and "walking".
I have to read Walden every so often. This essay shaped my thinking and also reminds me of a hilarious class trip to Concord and Walden Pond in 1983.
Thoreau embodies the potential greatness of the "American spirit." Too bad the world has completely ignored his sage example.
Shawn
marked it as to-read
Same with Emerson. I read Walden in HS. Would like to give it a new look with grown up eyes.
Best book ever written, not the easiest to read but poetically intoxicating.
I've read all these a few times, well worth it
Shwallinbballin
marked it as to-read
Hugh
added it
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers Also Enjoyed
Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau)was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, philosopher, and abolitionist who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.
Thor...more
More about Henry David Thoreau...
Thor...more
Share This Book
1 trivia question
More quizzes & trivia...
“But men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is soon ploughed into the soil for compost. By a seeming fate, commonly called necessity, they are employed, as it says in an old book, laying up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break through and steal.”
—
2 people liked it
“As surely as the sunset in my latest November
shall translate me to the ethereal world,
and remind me of the ruddy morning of youth;
as surely as the last strain of music which falls on my decaying ear
shall make age to be forgotten,
or, in short, the manifold influences of nature
survive during the term of our natural life,
so surely my Friend shall forever be my Friend,
and reflect a ray of God to me,
and time shall foster and adorn and consecrate our Friendship,
no less than the ruins of temples.”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
shall translate me to the ethereal world,
and remind me of the ruddy morning of youth;
as surely as the last strain of music which falls on my decaying ear
shall make age to be forgotten,
or, in short, the manifold influences of nature
survive during the term of our natural life,
so surely my Friend shall forever be my Friend,
and reflect a ray of God to me,
and time shall foster and adorn and consecrate our Friendship,
no less than the ruins of temples.”
