This was not intended by Thoreau as a book proper but a series of essays written for a magazine. As such, it does suffer some from repetition of themes and thoughts. And there are times when Thoreau is too "Thoreau" pedantically reciting his foray into discovering the history of Cape Cod's discovery by the Europeans. By page 20 of that particular section I was ready to let Thoreau go off on his endeavors alone. Of course, it was part of the last and longest "chapter" entitled Provincetown, which like many of his other chapters here it is only nominally about. Nevertheless I did like the book on the whole a great deal and unlike the introduction writer Theroux, I found the book to be very much about its title subject. For those who have been to the Cape and paid any attention to its nature, you will be pleasantly treated to some sites recognizable today 150 years (nearly) after Thoreau's visit. You'll also be enlightened in how different today's Cape is. But that seems to me to be the essence of the Cape: it's always changing and Thoreau captures that quite nicely as well.