WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BENJAMIN MARKOVITS In 1845 Thoreau, a Harvard-educated 28-year-old, went to live by himself in the woods in Massachusetts. He stayed for over two years, living self-sufficiently in a small cabin built with his own hands. Walden is his personal account of the experience, in which he documents the beauty and fulfilment to be found in the wilderness, and his philosophical and … philosophical and political motivations for rejecting the materialism which continues to define our modern world.
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Book Review
Walden, an American classic…few of us have likely read all 350+ pages, unless you were an English major. For most, perhaps 10-15 pages in high school or a college literature course introduced you to Thoreau and Walden. Famed philosopher and thinker, it’s a book that transports you to nature and the simplicities of life… helping to discover who you are, what you want and where things are going. A bit of an existential crisis, so to speak. It’s a good book. I have nothing against it, but it didn’t resonate with me as much as I’d have liked.
I tend to be character and plot-based, when it comes to literature I enjoy. The main character, besides Thoreau, was passion/life/searching… it’s not a work of fiction, tho some may take it that way. Perhaps a collection of essays, early journal writing. Blogging?
All in all, beautiful language. Great images. Lots to think about. Worth reading those 10 to 15 pages. But unless you are into philosophy, it’ll be a hard read. I’m a thinker, but not in this way. I’m glad I read the full text… and a few pages several times for comparative purposes in different courses. Take a little on for yourself.
A life-transforming book that changed me in more ways than one!Walden
Amazon book! The kind that changes your life in a positive way!
Thoreau’s classic, Walden or Life in the Woods, was first published in 1854. Walden is the product of Thoreau’s two-year stay in the cabin he built in the spring of 1844 by Walden Pond outside Concord, Massachusetts, on land owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It’s a remarkable book.
This book is Thoreau’s reflections on the time he spent in a home he built on Walden Pond. He lived in a cabin in the woods for 2 years, 2 months and 2 days. He wanted to spend the time reflecting and learning to understand society. He also wanted to see if he could mainly be self-sustaining on the land. He was in the middle of Concord, Massachusetts, so not necessarily in the wilderness, but off the beaten path to the point where he was 2 miles from civilization.
This book was….interesting. First of all, Thoreau is a rambler. I would guess, though, that any of us keeping a journal of our day to day routine would be too. I learned about every bird in the woods. What temperature the pond was compared to other ponds near by. When the pond froze for the winter, how he built his house, how he kept warm, and who he talked with while he lived in the woods. The book could have been about half the size, but he liked to talk for paragraphs about each and every animal or situation to the point of my losing interest and wanting to skim. I did finish it, but it was trying. I do have to say, though, on the bits that I did enjoy, he was telling. And interesting. And sometimes even funny. It had its moments.
I have never been very good with the classics. I am starting to think it is a personal problem I have – I am just not in the mindset for this type of writing. It isn’t my cup of tea. BUT – I will continue to struggle through them because I am interested in seeing what makes them classics. Maybe one day, I will come by one that I truly love.
Still looking
The great appeal of Thoreau is that he offered himself up to the great mysteries and the forces of nature, and he experimented the type of life that his mentor Emerson espoused in the Transcendentalist philosophy of reaching for a higher calling. All of what Thoreau stands for touches my heart: his dismissal of materialism, his commitment to meditating on the human condition, his reverence for knowledge in the natural world, his appreciation for the order of things, and his quest to find God. Walden is full of wonderful passages about following your dreams, living your life to its fullest, and never allowing yourself to feel lost, especially if you haven’t yet found your path in the world. Walden reads both like a collection of data from a natural scientist witnessing and observing the world in all its beauty and intricacy, and as a profound personal testament from a philosopher reflecting upon and seeking answers to life’s most ineffable mysteries. What is happiness? How do we find peace? Why do we suffer? Thoreau yearns for answers to life’s aching questions. His time spent on Walden Pond resulted in a contemplative piece of literature that has withstood the rigors of time due to the manifold ways in which it inspires. Each time I reread certain passages from this book, I’m reminded why Thoreau continues to remain so admired and important in the modern world. He forces us back to the soil and to an assessment of our own life. He gives us the courage to find our mission in life and to see life clearly as a gift that should not be squandered.
A look into a man’s soul, and the soul of the world through his eyes. Revealing.