A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers/Walden/The Maine Woods/Cape Cod
My rating:
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it it was amazing
add to my books

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers/Walden/The Maine Woods/Cape Cod

4.17 of 5 stars 4.17  ·  rating details  ·  304 ratings  ·  15 reviews
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
more details... edit details
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.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill BrysonInto the Wild by Jon KrakauerIn a Sunburned Country by Bill BrysonTravels With Charley by John SteinbeckEat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Favourite Travel Books
64th out of 387 books — 335 voters
The Cider House Rules by John IrvingThe Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel HawthorneA Prayer for Owen Meany by John IrvingLittle Women by Louisa May AlcottThe Crucible by Arthur Miller
New England Books
52nd out of 242 books — 70 voters


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 496)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
David
David rated it 3 of 5 stars
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
Ty
Ty rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: any nature lover
Recommended to Ty by: christoper mccandless
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
Hannah
Hannah rated it 1 of 5 stars
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
Edified
Edified rated it 3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: Anyone
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Elizabeth Phelps
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
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.
Daniel
Daniel rated it 5 of 5 stars
I realized that I'm not rereading Walden, but that I'm always reading Walden.
Sarah Bauer
Sarah Bauer is currently reading it
So far, seriously loving Walden.
Erin K
Erin K rated it 1 of 5 stars
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.
Chuck
Chuck rated it 5 of 5 stars
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".
Michelle
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.
Parapraxis
Thoreau embodies the potential greatness of the "American spirit." Too bad the world has completely ignored his sage example.
Shawn
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.
Zina
Zina rated it 5 of 5 stars
Best book ever written, not the easiest to read but poetically intoxicating.
Steve
Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars
I've read all these a few times, well worth it
Shwallinbballin
Shwallinbballin marked it as to-read
Ahmed
Ahmed rated it 5 of 5 stars
Taryn
Taryn rated it 5 of 5 stars
Jeremy
Jeremy rated it 4 of 5 stars
Grant
Grant rated it 4 of 5 stars
Dawn
Dawn rated it 5 of 5 stars
Amy
Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars
Abkins
Abkins rated it 5 of 5 stars
Hugh
Hugh added it
Megan
Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 16 17
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
Henry David Thoreau (Library Of America S.)

Readers Also Enjoyed

10264
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...
Walden, or Life in the Woods Walden and Civil Disobedience Civil Disobedience and Other Essays: Collected Essays of Henry David Thoreau Walden and Other Writings (Modern Library Classics) Thoughts from Walden Pond by Henry David Thoreau

Share This Book

Your website
Pin It
“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…