Walden (Time Reading Program Special Edition) (original 1854; edition 1962)

I got 100 pages in and wanted to stick my head in a vat of boiling water. I HATED this book. I really hated it. How can one man talk so much shite about absolutely nothing? It honestly made me want to set things on fire. Who cares?! Who care about anything this man has to say? He doesn't care what anyone else has to say, so why listen to him? ARGH. ( )

The first American to translate philosophy from India (parts of the Lotus Sutra), Henry David (HD) Thoreau had read that ice was being shipped from America to India, and decided to retreat to a cabin in the woods by Walden Pond, "to live deliberately."

Later, Gandhi had read and was influenced by Thoreau. Later still, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had read and was influenced by Gandhi. Still yet later, kdis in Tiananmen Square, 1989, were quoting Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. So this book is an important genome in the spiral DNA-helix, between east and west. A treasure.

( )

I read Walden with my environmental history sections last week. Only a couple of them had ever read any Thoreau, although they all had a sense of who he was and what he stood for. It was interesting talking about Walden in a history class, rather than in English, which was where I first encountered Thoreau. I wonder if that led to a greater effort on my part to talk about context—or is that just me?

There were certainly things about Walden that surprised me, and that I had not picked up on when I read it as a teenager. One thing was, the way Thoreau seems to jump back and forth from the sublime to the ridiculous. On the same page where he says “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” Thoreau also says “It is hard to have a southern overseer; it is worse to have a northern one; but worst of all when you are the slave driver of yourself.” Stephen Fender, the editor of the Oxford World Classics edition, apologizes for this passage by saying Thoreau was one of the first critics of the northern factory system. Fender tries hard to put a “free labor” spin on what really amounts to a ridiculous, ignorant, insensitive statement. But I think it’s this middle-class, northern-white-guy ignorance and self-centeredness of Thoreau’s that makes Walden so rich and enduring.

Sure, there are enough literary and cultural references to keep classicists and concordance-writers happy. But is this why we still read Walden? And there are beautiful, graphic passages about nature, and about Thoreau’s experience of the woods and the pond. But I don’t think this accounts for his continuing popularity, either. I think it comes down to two things: Thoreau gives us a view of nineteenth-century America from a perspective way outside the frame; and he’s a white, middle-class, suburban intellectual, like most of us.

It’s very difficult to critique the system from within. By leaving and looking at his society from the outside, Thoreau helps us see things that ought to be obvious, but are not. He reminds us that “the principal object” of the new textile factories is “not that mankind may be well and honestly clad, but, unquestionably, that the corporations may be enriched.” Once we’re pulled out of the frame a bit by that thought, Thoreau continues, “In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.” Thoreau keeps reminding us that his perspective is personal and limited. “Often the poor man is not so cold and hungry as he is dirty and ragged and gross,” Thoreau says. “It is partly his taste, and not merely his misfortune.” But just when you want to hit him upside the head with a 2x4, he concludes the paragraph by saying “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”

When he looks at Concord and sees “the village was literally a com-munity, a league for mutual defense,” it’s easy to see that culture of fear playing itself out in our own time. Thoreau is right: “if a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die, though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead-and-alive to begin with.” The wish to “live deliberately…and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” is as contemporary as it could possibly be. Thoreau’s critique only becomes stronger, as we move farther from simplicity. In the end, it may be the ahistorical nature of Walden that has made it so enduring. Marching to the beat of a different drummer and cultivating wildness (a fabulous oxymoron!) are timeless. As opposed to something like Bellamy’s Looking Backward, which was filled with specific recommendations that don’t wear nearly as well, a hundred years later.

But I’m reading Walden with my history class, and for all of that timeless wisdom, I question the historical reality of those “lives of quiet desperation,” even though the statement is intuitive and resonant. I suspect that it’s a projection, both when Thoreau originally said it, and when we read it and nod knowingly. But yeah, there’s something to it…Similarly, the idea that they built a telegraph from Maine to Texas, but Maine and Texas have nothing meaningful to say to each other is a sneering, elitist misrepresentation. There will be a lot of data and facts in my dissertation, but the real meat of the thing will come from thousands of letters that people wrote to family members. They clearly thought they had something meaningful to say to each other, even if it was only “I planted six acres of potatoes” and “How is Mother?” Thoreau doesn’t deign to consider that type of communication worth the penny postage—but that’s his problem. ( )

While I agree with what I've read on principal the majority of this book is pretty dull.

I read Walden in a battered old hardcover, probably a Modern Library Edition, now far out of print, when I was a teen. A long, long while ago, when I was in love with the Transcendalists and seeking some sort of vision for a life well lived. Thoreau has walked with me through the decades of my life, a touchstone, a surly companion, a man who observes the ways of the plants and the weather and the world and does not compromise. Probably if we met in real life we would have hated each other; I get that Henry wasn't that comfortable with women, save the wife of his buddy Emerson and his mom and her cookies. But...you have to love him. And read him. And treasure him. ( )

Yaawwwwn ( )

Read this for an Major American Literature class. ( )

This certainly is an amazing book. It follows a bit over two years in the life of Henry Thoreau, July 4, 1845 to September 6, 1847. It is during this time period he makes the decision to move to the shore of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts.

The book follow his journey of essentially self discovery, and his observations of life during this period - including building himself a cabin, farming and reading/books amongst other things.

It really is quite an interesting glimpse into not only the past, but also one mans views of the world. I don't agree with all his positions (like meat not being worth the effort to hunt/obtain), but I certainly do agree that a simpler life can be a more rewarding life. I certainly also would go build myself a cabin on the shores of a lake and live a simple life if such a thing were possible in this day and age but alas, even if buys such a piece of land you still can't build such a cabin thanks to local government rules - how the world has changed in a mere 200 years!

I will end this review with a paragraph from the end of the book: "However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man's abode." ( )

A great contemplative book, I would consider this a fine example of a self help book for those who want to take a step back from the hustle of modern America. ( )

I'm probably a horrible person who will never be able to fully embrace simple living because I can't get through Walden. I know Thoreau has some gems in there, but they're just hidden in the middle of so many words. I found it mind-numbingly boring.

I first started reading it to get a sense for New England when I discovered that we were moving here. I did the same thing with Wallace Stegner's The Gathering of Zion when we moved to Utah and Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona when we lived in California, both times with great results. With Walden, however, I didn't have such a great experience.

After a few months trying to trudge through, I decided to keep reading it because everyone says that you have to read Walden if you're going to embrace the principles of voluntary simplicity. I disagree. I think something like Duane Elgin's Voluntary Simplicity might be a better choice for someone hoping to get inspired towards simple living in the 21st century.

In the end, I decided to simplify my life by removing this book from my currently-reading list so it could no longer taunt me there. If you're reading this review and have recommendations for books that will give an overall sense of the culture and history of New England (the stuff in the nearly 400 years since the Mayflower), please leave a comment. ( )

eBook

I feel guilty for not liking this. I managed to avoid reading this during school, but it still seems like one of those books that high schoolers are forced to read, yet never appreciate. SIt always embarrasses me to agree with the high schoolers, but I can't help but find Walden vastly overrated, both as a book, and as an exploration of the American character.

Certainly, there were lines, ideas, and passages that I enjoyed, and I'm not necessarily willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater just because the narrator is such a self-righteous prick. Maybe it's just because of what I've been reading recently, but it was hard to get past the flimsy nature of the man's entire worldview. A lot of my recent books have revolved around the theme of bullshit, and I can't say that I'm willing to exclude this one. Thoreau's pronouncements sound pretty enough, in the same way that the ramblings of a stoner can seem to uncover hidden truths, but after a while, context takes over. The difference between his self-perception and reality is just too wide to take him seriously. ( )

Reading Walden makes you live only the present time. It's as dough you were at the lake's shore, seated, contemplating its vastness trough Thoreau's eyes. ( )

Is it a book on nature, a book on ecology, a book on human nature, a prescient description of the struggle between modern civilization and the land that nurtured it, and critique of mankind just to name a few. Great Read!

Some years ago I walked around Waldens Pond just outside Concord. A nice and sunny autumn day - imagining how it must have been for Thoreau back in 1845 to move into his tiny house he built with his own hands.

He stayed there for two years - a self-imposed "exile" - leaving the bustling city behind, dedicated to a life of simplicity and solitude. This book is an exploration of his experiences and his many thoughts on life in general. It's more relevant than ever - thinking how much stress and unnecessary things that fill our lives and gives us constant worries.

Rereading his book I feel much more alive again. It's brimming with curiosity, enthusiasm, individuality and the wish 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".

A mixture of philosophy, observations about nature, wildlife and crops, guidance on how to live life to the fullest, not following the crowd but being yourself, living in the present. This book has so much to offer - and completely deserves it's status as some of the finest american literature ever.

Thoreau's unusual attention to ordinary things in life fills me with joy - just the pleasure he gains from a cold bath in the lake each morning and his way of putting it in a wider context of living is remarkable. As with so many other things. From the food on his table, to the birds in the air. Nothing escapes his keen eye for details we so often just ignore.

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, discover that I had not lived. ( )

I really did like this book. Thoreau's way of describing his solitude and the nature around him those two years is a poetical and philosophical masterpiece. The book must be read in a slow pace, but if you do that you will really feel as though you are there in the woods with Thoreau. ( )

Henry David Thoreau begins Walden with an explanation, this was a brief respite from his "civilized life" that had taken up two years at some time in the past. Now he is once again a "sojourner in civilized life." Using the word sojourner suggests the association of material with civilization and provides a contrast with the natural life that he had experienced at Walden Pond. But the presence of nature does not prevent Thoreau from quickly turning his narrative to a discourse on his personal life and internal thoughts leading to the comment about philosophers quoted above. His life at Walden Pond appeared to provide simplicity and independence, two of the criteria listed, but the emphasis in "Economy"--the first chapter of Walden--is on the practical aspects of the life of the philosopher.
These aspects are laid out in an orderly manner that begins with several pages about the "when", "what", and "how" of his life at Walden Pond. His simple life was one that included only the "necessities", noting that , "the wisest have ever led a more simple and meager life that the poor. The ancient philosophers, Chinese, Hindoo, Persian, and Greek, were a class than which none has been poorer in outward riches, non so rich in inward." (p 14)
While what he did, in addition to writing, included: "To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if possible, Nature herself!" . . . "trying to hear what was in the wind, to hear and carry it express!"(p 17)
His paean to nature passes and he continues an orderly disquisition on building his house, its design, his income and outgo, and baking bread. He describes making his furniture, once again with emphasis on simplicity: "a bed, a table, a desk, three chairs". Later, in the "Visitors" chapter, he will explain that his three chairs include "one for solitude, two for friendship, and three for society." (p 140) Multiple visitors were invited to stand while they shared Thoreau's abode.
The "Economy" section is by far the longest in the book and, while Thoreau discusses many more details of his life at the pond, he concludes with a meditation on philanthropy which he decides "that it does not agree with my constitution." The dismissal of philanthropy, at least for himself, seems curious for one who portrays himself as a philosopher. Philanthropy originates from the Latin "philanthropia", and originally from the Greek word "philanthropia", meaning "humanity, benevolence," from philanthropos (adj.) "loving mankind, useful to man," from phil- "loving" + anthropos "mankind". But perhaps Thoreau did not perceive the practice of philanthropy in Concord to coincide with this derivation. As he says "There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted." (p 74) He goes on to discuss the issue at length with a concluding and consistent (with his thought) riposte that seems apropos for the end of this first note on Walden.
"If, then, we would indeed restore mankind by truly Indian, botanic, magnetic, or natural means, let us first be as simple and well as nature ourselves, dispel the clouds which hang over our brows, and take up a little life into our pores. Do not stay to be an overseer of the poor, but endeavor to become one of the worthies of the world."( pp 78-79)
This then seems to bring together the simplicity and practice of the philosopher to be "well as nature ourselves." ( )

I'm a bit ambivalent on this one. Though I really liked pieces and I think Thoreau has a great writing style, I did also find it rather lengthy at times. The descriptions of the environment of Walden pond are beautiful, but they can become a bit much, for instance when he writes several times, multiple pages about how clear the water in the pond is...

Though the novel has been an important inspiration for some philosophers, and I appreciate it's importance and the novelty of Thoreau's ideas at the time the book was written, I have to say I don't find his ideas very convincing.
I think Thoreau doesn't realise that he might live a 'primitive' life quite easily when he has a civilized world surrounding him, but that this would not be possible if everybody would follow the lifestyle he promotes. For instance, he hires oxen and a plough to plough his fields, he borrows tools, he gets his clothing from the village... If everybody would live like he does though, these things wouldn't be possible.
Also, he feels that poor people should be happy to live a simple life, but he doesn't seem to understand that poverty means hardship and despair, and that a simple life isn't much fun when you're starving. Likewise, he doesn't take into account that some people have wives and children they need to provide for.
Besides, Thoreau comes across as an incredibly arrogant and patronizing man, who seems to think he is the only person whose intellect is advanced enough to see the truth and to really understand the world. He just looks down upon everybody, and I found this really annoying and insulting.

The copy I have also contained the essay 'Civil Disobedience', which leaves me with the same feeling.
It's rather easy to boast of not paying your taxes, if you don't actually need to spend time in jail for it because your family pays up for you. And it's also rather easy to say you don't need the state and are therefore not going to pay, if you can benefit from the state by living in it, even without paying. I am presuming that Thoreau does appreciate having roads and railroads, a police force and firemen, and all other commodities the State provides; if everybody would act the way he does, then all these things would disappear, and I wonder if that really is what he wants... ( )

Easy to see why this book is such an integral part of history and culture in the USA. A celebration of individualism and self-reliance. It's a pity that some Americans don't recognise that the world has changed since the book was written so it doesn't provide the guide to the good life that it once did. ( )

Walden (or, life in the woods) by Henry David Thoreau is a collection of transcendentalist essays that encourage self-motivation and serenity, framed around Thoreau’s stay in a cabin in the woods. This book is also a relaxing nature read, appealing to the resourceful readers who connect with protagonists who have a strong sense of resilience and determination.

One of the best books I have ever studied. Hidden gems await inside for anyone who reads this classic. If literature can be seen as a medium to express our thoughts in the deepest yet most lucid ways, then Walden must be in the top quartile of the best of them.

The Folio Society treatment of this is exquisite. ( )

The whole book reads like a journal of Thoreau's life in the woods. At some points it becomes very detailed and specific on the topic which he's talking about (fish, topography, plants, etc...) but it is worth reading through just to get to some of the best of his insights. ( )

In many ways I admire and agree with Thoreau's views about the need to return to a simpler way of life, to avoid... "spending...the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it..."

I enjoyed (though didn't necessarily agree with) his strident opinions about reading - and this book definitely falls into the category of those "...we have to stand on tip-toe to read and devote our most alert and wakeful hours to." Thoreau was obviously well-read by the standards of his day (and extremely so by those of today), with references to the works of Indian and Chinese philosophers, as well as the Classics.

There's a tone of contempt for his fellow, less well-educated citizen which comes through the text and which I found rather grating at times and the middle of the book, with its detailed descriptions of the pond and its creatures was a bit dull, although the chapter on the coming of Spring was interesting.

My favourite passage came towards the end: "Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Turn the old; return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts." ( )

The beginning has a lot of deep thoughts all at once, and the rest of it has so much description. I liked parts of it, but I felt like other parts of it dragged on. At times though, I got the feeling that this was more of a problem with me than it is a problem with the book. In our society today, I don't think that many of us have the patience and attention spans needed to really appreciate a book of this type, especially considering that it's so focused on nature. Maybe that's a sign of something...

I'm found a lot of the description to be nice (especially some of the descriptions of animals that made me smile), but I felt myself wanting to be there to see and experience for myself instead of reading Thoreau's often highly individualized descriptions.

Some parts of this book really stood out to me, like the image of millions of ants battling to the death enveloping Thoreau's cottage. I might try to read this again someday, but in smaller bits, taking the time to appreciate each new idea and image. Maybe I'll like it better a few years from now. ( )

I loved the evocation of great wildernesses, and his stubborn stance against the prevailing ideas of his society.

I am continually amazed at the people who claim to have read this book and then say "Thoreau went off and built a cabin in the woods." He actually went into Boston, met an Irish immigrant, bought his family's shanty, and had it shipped to Concord. (I would like to think the Irishman was able to better his family's circumstances with the money, but immigrant life being what it was, I suspect the family ended up homeless. Not that Thoreau cared one way or the other.)

He then "lived a solitary life in the woods," except he was only about a mile from his friend Emerson's house, so whenever he got tired of living alone, he sauntered over and had dinner.

Much of the romance of "simple" living is only possible because the people romanticizing about it are surrounded by a first world culture they are dependent on. Those who don't acknowledge this are missing one of the most important facts we need to deal with on an over-populated, climatically unstable planet. Read this critically or give it a miss. ( )