Walden; or, Life in the Woods: Bold-faced Ideas for Living a Truly Transcendent Life

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Walden; or, Life in the Woods: Bold-faced Ideas for Living a Truly Transcendent Life

by Henry David Thoreau, Laura Ross (Editor)

3.69 · rating details · 27,419 ratings · 1,233 reviews

An innovative and beautiful new take on a beloved classic. Walden; or, Life in the Woods is one of the world

Hardcover, 448 pages

Published October 6th 2009 by Sterling Innovation (first published 1845)

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Aug 01, 2007

Jeremy rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: essays, read-for-school, classics

Or "The Guy Who Liked to Go Outside and Do Stuff". If Thoreau were alive today, I bet he'd be one of those guys who won't shut up about how he "doesn't even own" a television. Curiously, however, I don't think he'd smell bad. And he'd find Radiohead neither overrated nor God's gift to modern music. Just a talented band with a few fairly interesting ideas.

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Jun 02, 2008

Chris Bradshaw rated it

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Recommends it for: Everyone

When Henry Thoreau went to Walden Pond in 1845, I wonder what he really thought he was doing there. I wonder if he had second thoughts about the whole idea; although when he began it was July, and July is a good month to be outdoors, whatever the weather. The man, and what he did and how he lived and what he lived for have always been a source of inspiration to me, and to many others... Walden is much more than one man's account of the years he spent in the woods communing with nature; it ...more
When Henry Thoreau went to Walden Pond in 1845, I wonder what he really thought he was doing there. I wonder if he had second thoughts about the whole idea; although when he began it was July, and July is a good month to be outdoors, whatever the weather. The man, and what he did and how he lived and what he lived for have always been a source of inspiration to me, and to many others... Walden is much more than one man's account of the years he spent in the woods communing with nature; it is a statement of defiance. Thoreau was educated at Harvard, and spent some time as a teacher where he despaired of the idea of classroom learning. He had a great respect for the Native Americans, admiring their hardiness and skill. He couldn't understand why people thought of them as inferior. To him, they were wise and strong and more in tune with reality than the farmer with his insulated life. He loved wisdom, and spoke of an enlightened society based on compassion and simplicity. He did not align himself explicitly with any religious view...he was a philosophical person. Solitude was what he valued, not just because he was a thinker, but also because he believed it made you a better person, a more independent mind. These ideas, and the kind of existence they represent, are important for me because I think that we're losing something very crucial...not just in the physical loss of the natural environment, but also in the spiritual environment, which is reliant upon it. If it was obvious 150 years ago, it is now the de facto reality, and the question is: what will it be like 150 years from now?

So...what are we supposed to do about it? You can see how huge the problem is: global warming, overpopulation, poverty, corporate hegemony... You look at it all, and it floors you; you can't see the edges of it because it's all around you, everywhere. It's just how things are...it's what you're used to seeing. And it's horrible, but that's also accepted to a certain degree...the wrongness of it is tolerated because people feel powerless, or bogged down, or maybe they're just tired of trying...all valid points and very understandable ones. I think Henry would look at it as a consequence of a compulsively complicated culture, and once you look at the massiveness of what we have done, the sheer size of our footprint, maybe you can see it too. Going to the woods ain't gonna cut it... But for the people who feel the way Henry felt, who see what he saw in the deep waters of Walden Pond, the option of inaction is no option at all. The real power of his words is in the actions of those they inspire...the good people doing the hard work of trying to make this culture a less complicated one, and maybe they'll succeed and maybe they won't...the value is in the attempt.

It begins with an idea; ideas are the seeds of change, they are what our culture rests upon. But, like a seed, they will become nothing without the proper attention and care. The best one's change the world, the worst one's bring the world to it's knees...which is where we are now. Is it a good idea to continue polluting the planet when we know that it will kill us in the end? No, but that continues. Is it a good idea to pamper the wealthy and tax the poor? No, but that continues. People see these things and forget about Walden Pond because it seems small and ineffectual. It says something about the spirit of a society when the best ideas are purposefully abandoned for shiny, complicated, bad one's. But the people who benefit most from the bad ideas are the people who are effectively running the show. And so they dress them up and give them interesting titles and wrap them in exciting packages and peddle them as good one's. Henry built his home with the trees he took from the forest surrounding the pond at Walden. He built it with tools he borrowed from his neighbors, in good faith, and used recycled materials for what he couldn't get from the woods. It was a good house and it kept him warm in the winter, cool in the summer and dry when it rained. The great wisdom of his life was in how he lived it, with care and appreciation and respect for what was in his environment. Is it a good idea to live as a student, no matter your age? Yes, and also to be a teacher of good ideas, as Henry was.

Thoreau stayed at Walden Pond for two years, wrote extensively in his journal, then left. He could have stayed, I suppose, but solitude is not something which benefits forever. I think he says as much, though I'm not sure. He stayed long enough to learn what he needed to, then he moved on. There is wisdom in that, too. Take what you need and leave the rest. Things are changing, despite how it seems sometimes. People are angry. They're tired of being scared. Maybe they won't go to the woods; maybe that's not even an option anymore. The "woods" now are more a state of mind, a world view. Whatever happens, Walden will be there, as full of good ideas as it ever was...because a truly good idea will always be good, no matter what the censors say.(less)

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Jan 02, 2009

Amanda rated it

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I will go against the grain of society here and say that this was not worth it. There are a few gems of wisdom in here, maybe the Cliffs Notes or a HEAVILY abridged version would be more tolerable. Here's what I didn't like: Thoreau went off to "live by himself", when in actuality he was a mere 2 miles away from town and could hear the train whistle daily. Not exactly out there roughing it. He lived in a shack on land that a friend of his owned so he was basically a squatter. Mos...more

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Sep 08, 2008

Clare rated it

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Reading Walden was kind of like eating bran flakes: You know it's good for you, and to some degree you enjoy the wholesomeness of it, but it's not always particularly exciting. The parts of this book that I loved (the philosophy, which always held my interest even though I sometimes didn't agree with Thoreau), I really loved, and the parts that I hated (the ten pages where he waxes poetic about his bean fields, for instance), I really hated.

I also got the impression that Thoreau was...more

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Nov 13, 2008

Jim rated it

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Shelves: non-fiction, historical

His whole 'back to nature' & simplistic look at life do have their appeal. I don't subscribe to transcendentalism, but did find his musings broken up by the seasons to be interesting. Like most philosophers, his view on life tends to ignore minor details (like reality) that don't fit into his worldview, but he does stay in the real world most of the time. Luckily, he had some money, good health & people he could borrow from.

I don't particularly like the man, though. His comments ...moreHis whole 'back to nature' & simplistic look at life do have their appeal. I don't subscribe to transcendentalism, but did find his musings broken up by the seasons to be interesting. Like most philosophers, his view on life tends to ignore minor details (like reality) that don't fit into his worldview, but he does stay in the real world most of the time. Luckily, he had some money, good health & people he could borrow from.

I don't particularly like the man, though. His comments on marriage being "a ball & chain" for the man were absolutely offensive. It's no wonder he never married or had kids. His self-centered nature wouldn't allow for such distractions.

Even more offensive was the way he treated the axe he borrowed. I don't care much for tool borrowers anyway, having had too many people borrow mine over the years & then 'treat them as if they were their own'. That means they beat them up or never return them. That's exactly what Thoreau did, ruined a fine axe as if it was of no consequence.

An axe in 1845 was a useful & fairly expensive tool. Generally, handles were handmade by the owner to their pattern. Often the axe head was handmade by the local smith. It required folding one piece of softer steel or iron to create the hole for the handle & then welding the ends back together. Then a higher quality piece of steel was forged on to the blade end. Different tempering was required for the two pieces.

Thoreau used his borrowed axe to both build his cabin & grub roots out with. Usually only a very old axe was used for the latter since hitting rocks & dirt dulled it quickly & shortened its life. After breaking the handle, he BURNED the old handle out of the head, which ruined any temper it had. His ill-fitting replacement handle required him to soak it in water, which expands the wood to fit, but does so only briefly. Once dry, the fit is even looser since the expanding wood fibers are crushed by the iron head. Yuck!

Anyway, this is why I was often distracted from his discourse on nature - I wanted to throttle him too often.(less)

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Mar 29, 2008

Mister Jones rated it

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Recommends it for: Mature, open minded readers

The very first time I read Walden my immediate response was to begin torching its pages one by one and sacrificing each page as literary cow paddies written by a pompous celibate pretentious boob who masqueraded as self-appointed demigogue for the collective conscience of the gods; and of course, when read this way it certainly fits at times Thoreau's rhetoric.

Many years later, I took my paperback copy off my shelf and was ready to pack it up to be dropped off at the nearest thrift ...more

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Oct 05, 2007

Janet rated it

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Recommends it for: anyone interested in ecology and/or personal growth

I've read Walden many times now since that first time in high school. I will always love this book, and it reveals itself anew with each reading.

When I first encountered Thoreau in high school, his words rang in my soul like a prophet's manifesto. I admired what seemed to be his unique courage and absolute integrity. He inspired me to want to "live deliberately," but I knew that a solitary life in a cabin was beyond my abilities. His will seemed so much more resolut...moreI've read Walden many times now since that first time in high school. I will always love this book, and it reveals itself anew with each reading.

When I first encountered Thoreau in high school, his words rang in my soul like a prophet's manifesto. I admired what seemed to be his unique courage and absolute integrity. He inspired me to want to "live deliberately," but I knew that a solitary life in a cabin was beyond my abilities. His will seemed so much more resolute than anything I could ever be capable of.

That was a couple of decades ago. What struck on this latest recent reading is just how much this is a young man's book. The voice is that of an idealist, a passionate and lonely misfit who longs for a better way to live and for more authentic relationships with others as well as with himself. I know now that Thoreau lived more like an energetic slacker than a true renunciate. He was too principled to work as a schoolmaster (he refused to beat his charges), and there wasn't much he cared to do apart from reading, writing, and observing nature closely. He didn't have a family to take care of, and his parents were indulgent of his wishes.

His life at Walden was bracing, but it wasn't filled with hardships. His cabin was just a short walk from Concord, and Thoreau went home for Sunday dinners and stayed at the Emersons' place when it got too cold. His folks took care of his laundry. His life of simplicity was strictly voluntary, and he had numerous safety nets. While these facts make Henry David a bit less intimidating, they also make him more recognizable as a human being.

I like this young man, with his snobbery and his idealism, but I know that as a flesh-and-blood person he would have been hard to get to know, and even harder to love. He was probably afraid of intimacy, and even more afraid of failing to live up to his exacting standards. Thoreau was fascinated with purity. His disgust for "brute" appetites is something that we now think we understand as related to a fear of sexuality. He was deeply interested in Hindu dietary laws, and had an aversion to all forms of consumption. For him, the ideal was to become so pure that a few drops of nectar would be sufficient sustenance. Like Thoreau, I'm an ethical vegetarian, so I understand somewhat that urge toward purity. But my appetites are huge, and my life is in many ways a big, sloppy, comfortable mess. In contrast, Thoreau wanted to be free of all social constraints, free of the taint of commerce, free to be "wild." But his vision of wildness was of a clean, solitary life. He didn't want to merge or mingle with anything or anyone.

The descriptions of Walden and the surrounding landscapes are sublime. They will never get stale, and I enjoy them even more now that I live a few miles from Concord and have visited the pond in different seasons.

I look forward to reading this beautiful book again in a few years. I wonder what I'll notice next time?

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Oct 15, 2007

Donald rated it

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Recommends it for: Everyone

Who doesn't admire Henry David Thoreau? A social outcast who invented the tactic of civil disobedience that inspired Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr., Thoreau is best remembered today for his book "Walden." Unlike most literary classics, this book is not a work of fiction, and it really has no characters outside of himself. Thoreau's writing ability was never more evident than here, when he takes the seemingly boring subject of a man going back to nature and makes it somethin...more

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Feb 18, 2007

Brenna rated it

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Recommends it for: "get back to nature" fanatics

i just think it's funny that Thoreau wrote this book about roughing it in a cabin even though he lived like a 15 minute walk away from a small town and his sister would come to his cabin to do his laundry and cook for him. of course he never puts this in the book :) it honestly is about flowers and plants and animals... don't know what to tell ya...

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Mar 05, 2009

Whitney rated it

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Shelves: non-fiction

I read this in high school, college, and am skimming it now for book club. I have a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in this book, partly because I have the same copy I first read and by now have lots of highlighted sections and notes in the margins. I learn something new each time I read it. Mostly, it reminds me that I am a nature girl at heart and that after living almost exclusively outdoors during my childhood (hiking, fishing, rock climbing, swimming in the river, etc.), I now spend waaay to mu...more

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Jan 18, 2012

Vincent Chough rated it

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Thoreau's observations are incredibly relevant today. He was an environmentalist, but not because he was so worried about the planet -- but rather because it made sense to him. We just don't need so much stuff. It's a waste of our time, energy and spirit. He went to the woods to prove this and to prove himself. What would Henry say to us now in this age of disposable cell phones and multiple mortgages hanging over our heads?

Walden is just good writing. It's insightful and witty. It's...more

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Jan 09, 2011

Karen rated it

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Shelves: classics, high-school-reading, nonfiction, read-in-high-school

Oh dear god, this man is both boring and infuriating (is that even possible?). Perhaps he should have heeded his own advice, to "suck out all the marrow of" his book and "reduce it to its lowest terms." But no, he instead drags on and on about the most inane details, throwing in obscure literary allusions left and right. Now, let me ask, if the book is addressed to "poor students," what are the chances that they will understand any of these references? Which leads t...moreOh dear god, this man is both boring and infuriating (is that even possible?). Perhaps he should have heeded his own advice, to "suck out all the marrow of" his book and "reduce it to its lowest terms." But no, he instead drags on and on about the most inane details, throwing in obscure literary allusions left and right. Now, let me ask, if the book is addressed to "poor students," what are the chances that they will understand any of these references? Which leads to the question, then why does Thoreau use them? To show that he is intelligent, of course, which leads me to my next point - that he is infuriating.

He is infuriating in his preachiness and pretentiousness. He makes sweeping judgments about the millennia of man's existence, and I can't help but wonder why we should listen to him. If he has "never met a man who was quite awake" (even though I'm sure his good friend Emerson was just as intellectually able as our little genius here), then how are we to believe that he just so happens to be the one exception?

This is why I also don't like the film Into the Wild, which has a similar theme. Books/films like these are horribly preachy and pretentious. They try to make you feel bad about your way of life, even though they have no authority to do so, and they then somehow refute their point. For instance, the nature boy in Into the Wild dies from eating poisonous berries, while Thoreau conducted his experiment for only 2 years (not enough to preach that it is a way of life) and then got bucketloads of money from book sales.

And I find it funny that the very people who view this book as their bible are kind of missing the point of the book. Thoreau says somewhere in there that he wouldn't want anyone to live like himself, but then again ... why did he write this book ... who knows. And another thing - following another's words so religiously has got to be indicative of the herd instinct, which Thoreau advocates against. And yet another thing - he says that a scrap of newspaper serves the same purpose as [insert great literary author here]. Since in this day and age, we could very well put his name there, why don't we follow his own advice and throw Walden away?

P.S. I typed this whole thing on my phone. Thoreau is turning over in his grave...
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Jul 23, 2008

Beth rated it

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Oh my gosh, I don't need to mention the good things I've learned reading Thoreau, but I MUST say that every passionate Thoreau fan I ever met in college was a COMPLETE DOUCHEBAG in a very eco-friendly, pseudo-hipster, sweetly male-centric way. Ugh one time when I was a sophomore I had to choose a topic for a group presentation in Eng 253 and I was like ooh, transcendentalist literature! And suddenly I found myself stuck in a group with two fucking PERFECT Thoreau-head douchebags, all scruffy wit...more

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Mar 01, 2009

John Wiswell rated it

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Woefully overwritten to the point where most modern readers who might be moved by Thoreau’s transcendentalism will be put off by the prose alone. If that doesn’t get them, his elitist attitude probably will. Thoreau took Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ideals of choosing for yourself and added, “but you’re an idiot if you don’t choose mine.” Too many of his asides are condescending views of society or normal people, evidencing that Thoreau was stuck on other people even if he claimed to be independent or ...more

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Aug 26, 2007

Lindsay is currently reading it · review of another edition

I'm reading this right now on my travels around Illinios and Michigan. How many other books are you going to read that devote four entire pages to describing the way the ice on a pond in winter looks and feels? Thoreau is very disapproving of his fellow humans and society (in a very self-righteous punk sort of way) and it makes you feel like a) maybe you're not just a grumpy misanthrope for feeling that way and b)nostalgia for a better time is pretty stupid. After all, who really wants to live i...more

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Mar 28, 2009

Dan rated it

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I feel a bit pretentious putting this book on as my first review, but I've read it twice in the last two years (once independently and then for my book club), so I figured I'd put it on.

This is a really good book. One of the things thats nice is that it's very hard to pigeonhole. It's not just an environmentalist screed, nor is it a practical survival manual or a scientific journal of nature; at any given moment it can appear to be any of these things, but it never stays there long...more

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Mar 19, 2009

Kevin Slater rated it

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This will probably become the most profound book of my life. I felt a connection while reading what Thoreau said more than any book I've read in years. So much time I spent reading it I wanted to jump up and shout "YES!" I totally understand. I have spent my life in slowly developing a personal ideology of our connection with each other and the need for people to stop concerning themselves with wealth and the accumulation of things to "keep up with the joneses", to underst...more

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Jan 25, 2012

Jessica Moreira added it · review of another edition

Walden by Henry D. Thoreau is a book composed of several essays, some of his essays include: “Economy,” “Where I Lived and What I Lived For,” “The Pond in Winter”, “Spring”, and “Conclusion”. In his essay, “Economy”, Thoreau beings by saying that he wrote this essay while he was alone in the woods, in a house he built by himself near Walden Pond, in Concord MA. He remains there for two years. His goal is to determine the necessities of life. He explains the concerns that several people expresse...more Walden by Henry D. Thoreau is a book composed of several essays, some of his essays include: “Economy,” “Where I Lived and What I Lived For,” “The Pond in Winter”, “Spring”, and “Conclusion”. In his essay, “Economy”, Thoreau beings by saying that he wrote this essay while he was alone in the woods, in a house he built by himself near Walden Pond, in Concord MA. He remains there for two years. His goal is to determine the necessities of life. He explains the concerns that several people expressed to him, when they found out where he had been living. For example, he says a farmer said to him that he would not be able to survive on vegetable food alone. During his two years’ experience he learned that it would be little trouble for people to get necessary amount of food, because man can get just as much as animals can and still be strong and healthy. Nature as well, can provide clothing and shelter. He argues that working too much is not a good thing, and spending money on unnecessary items is of no benefit. In “Where I Lived and What I Lived For”, Thoreau explains why he choose to live at Walden Pond. He describes his days there as being simple and interacting with nature. He went to the woods because he wanted to face the essential facts of life, and to discover how to live. He wonders why people live with such hurry in their lives, and argues people should not worry about time. In “The Pond in the Winter”, Thoreau describes his winters at the pond. He decides to measure how deep the pond is because he has heard many stories that the pond had no bottom. He concludes that the pond is 107 ft deep. He is fascinated because he discovers if one knows all the laws of nature, one needs only one fact to infer all the particular results at that point. In “Spring”, Thoreau describes how beautiful spring is at Walden Pond. He decides to leave Walden in 1847. In his “Conclusion”, he argues for us to find our true selves and open our eyes to the nature around us.
After reading Thoreau’s essays I wondered if I would ever be able to live in the woods by myself for two years, and I do not think that I would be able to. Technology has become such a huge part of my life, that it is hard for me to go a day without texting someone or sending an email. Also I do not think that I would be able to be there by myself, because I am used to interacting with people during my day. I agree with his idea of trying to look inward and finding the true self; however I do not think it is necessary to go live in the woods for two years to do so. I agree that people should stop being in a hurry all the time because life is too short, and sometimes people just need to take a break from their busy schedules and enjoy the beauty that nature has to offer.
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Sep 05, 2011

Levi rated it

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Shelves: essays, memoir, nature, overrated, classics

It's been so long since I read "Walden" I'd forgotten what a whiny, entitled bitch Thoreau was, so full of himself at the age of thirty he wrote, "Practically, the old have no very important advice to give the young... I have lived some thirty years on this planet, and have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors."

In the first section, in which he praises his own economy and boasts, "For more than five years I maintaine...moreIt's been so long since I read "Walden" I'd forgotten what a whiny, entitled bitch Thoreau was, so full of himself at the age of thirty he wrote, "Practically, the old have no very important advice to give the young... I have lived some thirty years on this planet, and have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors."

In the first section, in which he praises his own economy and boasts, "For more than five years I maintained myself thus solely by the labor of my hands," -- failing to mention the support in the form of food, goods and shelter, from his nearby family and friends for the entirety of that period -- he goes on to decry philanthropy and express his distaste for the poor.

"I was wont to pity the clumsy Irish laborers who cut ice on the pond, in such mean and ragged clothes, while I shivered in my tidy and somewhat more fashionable garments, till, one bitter cold day, one who had slipped into the water came to my house to warm him, and I saw him strip off three pairs of pants and two pairs of stockings ere he got down to the skin, though they were dirty and ragged enough, it is true, that he could afford to refuse the extra garments which I offered him, he had so many intra ones. The ducking was the very thing he needed. Then I began to pity myself, and I saw that it would be a greater charity to bestow on me a flannel shirt than a whole slop-shop on him."

Yes, clearly Thoreau grasps well a situation in which a man at hard day-labor wears layers of clothing. Which he allows to get dirty! "Began" to pity himself, indeed. Just for fun, at the end of "Economy" he includes a poem by T. Carew entitled "The Pretensions of Poverty" which slams the impoverished for not being more enlightened and studying their Greek and clearly being all boring and stupid and such.

Thoreau was a product of his times, and these attitudes weren't his alone. He opposed human slavery consistently and loudly. And he spent a night in jail before his auntie bailed him out and payed his back-taxes, which later gave him latitude to expound upon the virtue and necessity of civil disobedience.

He has some gorgeous, well-turned phrases in "Walden" worthy of contemplation and repetition. His unrelenting self-absorption and oblivious vanity make reading the whole thing quite an irritating slog.

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Aug 20, 2011

Ogwen rated it

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Favorite Quotes:
In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person speaking. I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.
One farmer says to me, ‘You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with…walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, wi...more

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Jul 30, 2011

Ingrid Hansen rated it

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I startet reading Thoreau's Walden because it kept being mentioned on tv and I bought a copy in danish because I got curious about it.

It's taken me a better part of a month to read and it almost won over me, but everytime I wanted to put it aside, I thought it was actually quite interesting how Thoreau describes "Simple Living ano 1845-1847".

It all comes together in his brilliant conclusion, I couldn't believe what he was writing, it all fitted so perfect even if we are writing 2009.

H...more

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May 18, 2011

Tim Filbert rated it

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Timeless... Perhaps one of the reasons that Thoreau’s Walden has sustained if not increased its popularity over time has been its increased relevancy for the modern world in which we live, and for man’s place in this world. Although the forces of modernization were gathering momentum in his time, what I find striking about his work is its ability to capture with such clarity and power the extent to which these forces shape our existence. Perhaps in his dedication to personal experience and ef...moreTimeless... Perhaps one of the reasons that Thoreau’s Walden has sustained if not increased its popularity over time has been its increased relevancy for the modern world in which we live, and for man’s place in this world. Although the forces of modernization were gathering momentum in his time, what I find striking about his work is its ability to capture with such clarity and power the extent to which these forces shape our existence. Perhaps in his dedication to personal experience and efforts to ground himself in what’s real, as suggested by his efforts to “front only the essential facts of life,” allowed him to be a articulate witness to the powerful forces of industrialization and modernism that was deeply affecting the human outlook. Thoreau is out to explain himself to those who call his way of life impertinent and peculiar. His main concern seems to be liberty, embodied in time, as an essential condition for attaining a fuller and a more noble existence. Thoreau observes that “the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation,” and suggests that our desperate enterprises find their source in the modern drive toward progress, improvement, motion, ownership and the like. He is convinced, “both by faith and experience… that to maintain one’s self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we live simply and wisely… It is not necessary that a man should earn his living by the sweat of his brow, unless he sweats easier than I do” (51-52).

Walden is Thoreau’s effort to describe the conditions for a noble life. For Thoreau, life’s finer fruits are not the material objects that are the products of our labor and life-energy. Rather, these fruits are contemplation, observation, reading, Nature, and on occasion, the company of a certain kind of individual that shared an affection for these fruits. Thoreau urges us to be aware and be awake to the world around us, which offers as much beauty and access to the sublime as far away exotic places. His caution is that we are deceived and misled and lured into the trivial and shallow and “petty fears and petty pleasures… that are but a shadow of reality” (68). His experience and guidance is offered entirely within the context of Nature. It is the path to this life. It is where he, and perhaps where we “front only the essential facts of life…” Nature for Thoreau is a teacher and a path toward a more human, and perhaps more-than-human existence. This place and this moment, with our physical and sensuous presence to Nature, is where we will find God and the divine: “This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty with Nature, a part of herself” (90).

Walden is not an essay that should be read quickly. Further, it will be far more powerful to the reader if they periodically interrupt their reading with their own sojourns, however brief, into nature. And the book, like all good books I suppose, carries with it a risk. Read this, and you will be confronted with questions regarding your own “life-energy” and existence. One may either conclude that Thoreau was deceiving himself and justifying a misanthropic lack of ambition and drive. Or, that we have been deceiving ourselves in the pursuit of transient and distant pleasures and rewards. (less)

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Mar 06, 2011

Laura rated it

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Shelves: school

A re-read. I first speed-read it last November over our American Thanksgiving vacation since I had a reading test due on the Thursday. Being Canadian with an American husband can sometimes lead to such unfortunate experiences as having to rush through Walden and being supremely annoyed with it for taking me away from lazing away in the hot summer weather and drinking bourbon ale. So of course I didn't enjoy it much then -- I mean, how absurd to idealize solitude and quiet in the woods and econom...more

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Dec 21, 2010

Hannah Gold rated it

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I read this after watching Into the Wild, in which Thoreau is paraphrased in a style reeking of pretension. I wanted to see what all of the fuss is about. That scene in the film basically sums up the book -- you can paraphrase Walden to death in as lofty a manner as you wish.

I really loved it at first (the beginning is where you get all of the meaty quotes). I've never read a book like this and the idea of living off the land, of building a house with your own two hands, reveling in t...more

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Oct 24, 2010

Mark rated it

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So, from a literary point of view, Walden is kind of a frustrating read. It's hard to figure out what kind of a book it is; you come at it for wisdom, there's much to be had here (formulated in a sharp, direct, memorable manner), but there are whole chapters where it isn't brought up. You came at this as a Nature book? Wonderful, Thoreau has pages and pages of fantastic prose writing that I swear to god I've always thought of as pinecones in tall grass, and those little prickly things you find s...more

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Sep 06, 2010

Bruce rated it

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Have I ever returned to Walden without a sense of anticipation and delight? Thoreau’s iconoclastic humor is delightful and his aphorisms always memorable; I learn new truths and old truths afresh with each reacquaintance. I find myself pausing frequently to underline passages or simply to muse on them. It is not worthwhile to quote all or even some of them here, they are so familiar; but it is refreshing to be reminded of them again and to measure them against my own experience, affirming wh...more

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Jul 31, 2010

Helen rated it

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Shelves: classics, read-in-2010, non-fiction, 501

This book is beautifully written. Unfortunately most of it is also completely tedious. Now that I’ve finished reading it, I’m kind of wondering whether it was worth wading through pages of bean fields and melting ice to find the philosophy – not all of which agreed with me – and a few good quotes. I suppose the experience satisfied the original intentions I brought to the book, which were mainly being able to stick my nose in the air and say I’d read it, as well as knowing what other people are ...more

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Jul 25, 2010

Erin rated it

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Oh my, what to say about my good friend Thoreau? Well, first of all, this book pretty much ruined my over-all idea of Thoreau for me. You see, I read Civil Disobedience before starting on this and I actually started to think, "Hey, not too shabby." But then I began this gem and I'm THIS close to banging my head against the wall.

Why does Thoreau keep suggesting that man should turn back to primitivism when that's the exact thing that man is trying to run away from? That is ...more

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May 09, 2010

James rated it

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I am not sure if I am rating this book fairly. There is a big part of me that wants to give this book negative 3 stars. On the other hand, Dave has lots of good insights. He talks about the importance of taking time to think and not be busy. Don't spend time working at things that may give you money and prestige, but are ultimately unsatisfying. There were lots of things that, if the copy were mine, I would underline and mark.

I have also learned why many literature courses only ...more

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Apr 25, 2010

Shaun rated it

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“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” (182)

I loved this book, but that doesn’t mean I’m about to go run off into the woods and not talk to anyone for two years. In fact, I have some ethical issues with doing that, which I will discuss, but Walden is a fantastic book due to the eloquent wisdom it extracts from nature and offers the interested reader. Part pantheistic tribute to nature and part ethical handbook for deliberate living, Walden is among the more poetic works of philosophy...more

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About Henry David Thoreau

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.

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