Walden and Civil Disobedience (Penguin American Library)
by Henry David Thoreau
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Read in October, 1986
I first read Walden in perhaps the most ideal set of circumstances possible -- for an entire semester my first year of college, in a highly popular seminar made up of 20 first year students and a brilliant professor of intellectual history. All of the students had been chosen at random from among those interested in the course, and we felt lucky to have been selected. Each class, the professor would ask us to do a close reading of the next chapter, plus re-read all the preceding chapters, and th...more
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"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to...more
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Read in January, 1995
recommends it for:
everyone
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut ...more
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Read in December, 2007
I decided to re-read the essay "Civil Disobedience", since it is the namesake of the Curtis White book that I just began. Although the emphasis on individualism, the anarchic nature of his argument, and the seeming lack of an acknowledgment that women make up part of humanity too makes it difficult, at times, to imagine how we might apply this essay to the world we live in today, I've gotta give it to Thoreau--he's not afraid to live boldly by his principles. The idea that our gover...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
fast readers
Very interesting book on Thoreau's two years living in the forest of Walden pond, but fair warning: it is a dense read. I recognized a number of famous lines in this book:
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
"I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well."
"I had three pieces of limestone on my desk and I was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily, when the furniture of my mind was all undus...more
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
"I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well."
"I had three pieces of limestone on my desk and I was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily, when the furniture of my mind was all undus...more
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Own this book for it's literary and artistic significance and read it for it's modern relevance. On the heels of our forefathers and less than seventy-five years after the birth of our nation Thoreau asks the fundamental question; Is this as good as it gets?
Every American should be familiar with Thoreau's Civil Disobedience. Thoreau discusses the concept that in the process of establishing a free and independent American government we failed to protect and ensure the freedom and independe...more
Every American should be familiar with Thoreau's Civil Disobedience. Thoreau discusses the concept that in the process of establishing a free and independent American government we failed to protect and ensure the freedom and independe...more
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Read in September, 2004
During high school, I loved Emerson, read him in depth, but I couldn't for the life of me get into Thoreau, and so I winged it (luckily the teacher didn't test us on it). But when the two were assigned side by side in college, it was all I could do to trudge through Emerson. Instead, I delighted sitting out on my fire escape on a cool late summer evening turning page after page of Thoreau. Yes, I know the real story behind his "live deliberately" ethos wasn't quite so romantic, and ...more
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Read in January, 2007
I’ve returned to Walden and Civil Disobedience. It is very telling how different you take in a book when you read it in a completely different time in your life. I first read Walden and Civil Disobedience while I was getting my bachelors degree. Then when I was in graduate school in NYC, I went to Walden Pond, hung out, swam, visited Henry at his grave along with Emerson, Emily Dickinson and the like. Now I need the call back to simplicity and nature in a much different way then when I was ju...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
open minded people
Ok, I get the hypocracy....he's attacking society for their virtues, their being stuck on material goods, their dependence and he is writing it while shacking up in a friend's cabin. He's using his friend the same way he is attacking society. There are other hypocracies when you examine his life and his decisions (fact he was always in debt), but in the end, this book is a great example of the ideals of a society and humanity. Is it possible for me to escape society and head into the woods? ...more
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Read in June, 2008
I don't know what I expected, exactly... a quaint and earthy meditation on the land and man... something that might be published in Mother Earth News? I'm surprised and delighted by this quirky book, so far. I laugh out loud almost every other page at Thoreau's idiosyncratic style. I'll review again, hopefully, once I've finished.
By the way, I think I was assigned this in high school, and dawdled through it so badly, in such a high school fashion, that I feel like I never cracked the cove...more
By the way, I think I was assigned this in high school, and dawdled through it so badly, in such a high school fashion, that I feel like I never cracked the cove...more
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Read in January, 1964
I have read this four or five times since I was a teenager. Once it served as a critique of the materialism of the adult world, a few years later I saw it as a critique of the power structure, and then there was the mystical element associated with transendentalism. Most recently, I saw it simply as an appreciation of nature and the calm that gives.
Taking Harold Bloom's definition of a classic as being a book that can be read and re-read with profit, Walden certainly qualifies as a ...more
Taking Harold Bloom's definition of a classic as being a book that can be read and re-read with profit, Walden certainly qualifies as a ...more
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I am reading this book very slowly and find myself going back and re-reading sections several times. The philosophy behind the book is best summed up with these Thoreau words :"simplify, simplify, simplify". Since reading I have done such things as give jackets and clothes to the homeless and Goodwill keeping only what I wear most frequently, moved aboard a sailboat, given up eating meat other than fish, etc... The philosophy behind the book is worth giving a try though some parts o...more
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Read in February, 2006
recommends it for:
classic literature buffs
I love Thoreau's messages of getting back to the land, living simply, civil disobedience, etc. but sometimes he goes on for pages about his bean crops and how many he planted and the crop yields for each year and what day of the year that Walden Pond froze over ... it gets a little tedious. And the language is a bit older because it was written 150 years ago. So it was nice to read one of the forerunners in nature philosophy books but definitely not planning on re-reading this one.
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Read in January, 2004
Walden: I take issue with a wealthy man living in a shack for a period and pretending that living one mile from town and having his mother do his laundry qualifies him to advise mankind to "sell your clothes and keep your thoughts."
An experiment in simplicity, getting close to nature, I'm all for it. But when your experiment ends in a renewal of your previous lifestyle, how can you advise others to make changes that would leave them in the position permanently?
An experiment in simplicity, getting close to nature, I'm all for it. But when your experiment ends in a renewal of your previous lifestyle, how can you advise others to make changes that would leave them in the position permanently?
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Read in January, 2008
This essay (Civil Disobedience) just goes to show that since the mid-1800's, firstly, not much has changed in politics, and secondly, not much has changed among the Amercian populace.
Thoreau wrote about the slavery issue and the what he saw as useless Mexican-American war. Well, now we have illegal immigrants as our slaves and are in the Iraq war. There is much similarity in the times and a lot to learn from this essay on peaceful rebellion.
Highly recommended.
Thoreau wrote about the slavery issue and the what he saw as useless Mexican-American war. Well, now we have illegal immigrants as our slaves and are in the Iraq war. There is much similarity in the times and a lot to learn from this essay on peaceful rebellion.
Highly recommended.
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
Any outdoorsy/ intellectual type
It's very quoteable. Parts of it were really long and drawn out - like where he compares Walden Pond to White Pond. I could have done with about 1/8th of that.
Other parts I found quite interesting - where Thoreau compares weeding to the Battle of Troy, or when he takes the time to observe an epic battle of ants.
It was an interesting, and generally a thought provking read. Also, I will say it stays quite modern. However, I will NOT read it again.
Other parts I found quite interesting - where Thoreau compares weeding to the Battle of Troy, or when he takes the time to observe an epic battle of ants.
It was an interesting, and generally a thought provking read. Also, I will say it stays quite modern. However, I will NOT read it again.
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Read in September, 2007
There's plenty of wisdom in this book, and it's nice to read the constellation of thoughts that produced all those omnipresent quotes. Although occasionally I lost interest, the parts when he really got going on something, and inevitably wrote with clarity and brilliance, pulled me along. So much better than the Simple Living self-help books I picked up at the Spirit Lake library. . .
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Read in July, 2008
A little too depressing at times this book seems to be an attempt at healing psychologically perhaps from Thoreau's experiences in Concord....He seems very disillusioned with "modern" society, and insistent that most are doing wrong what he now is doing right. I don't mind being preached too much...but if it's tinged with anger I'm not into it. Maybe I'm too old for this now....
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I never thought of myself as a Thoreau fan, picturing them all instead as tree hugging nomads, but I finally read this in college and find myself returning to it more than almost any other book and getting more out of it each time. Brilliant, passionate and peaceful all at once everyone should have this on their shelves.
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
fans of "The Simple Life"
In an ironic twist, the fact that I was trying to shed some of the hindrances in my own life at the time I started reading this by buying a bike for transportation meant that I no longer commuted passively to work on the bus, so I was deprived of my primary reading time. So I may never finish this book.
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