Walden, Civil Disobedience, and Other Writings (Norton Critical Editions)

well written, insightful, but about as exciting as watching ice melt. ( )

Walden review

This is not the book that I expected. It isn't exactly life affirming, or even about tranquility as I expected it to be. It is, however, a book about startling us out of our complacency and focus on trivial matters. It is about ceasing to be so attentive to the external and begin cultivating out interior. Walden is more important now than ever before. We live in an age where the external aspects of living are very well done and held in high esteem, but interior aspect of life are not. We love iPods, but not wisdom.
The first two chapters and the conclusion are passionate and full of ideas, but what happens in the middle is too often overlooked. It is slow yet beautiful description seemingly without much significance, but to skip this part would be to miss the point. By channeling or focus on slowing down and noticing the everyday, Thoreau takes us to Walden with him to contemplate life. One does not need to live in a cabin in the woods to experience what Thoreau went through, one only needs to read his book.
I’ve heard from great admirers of the book that it is difficult and at times boring, but that shouldn’t cause anyone to skip those parts, as they are part if the journey. I honestly didn’t find a single aspect of it boring, but I can see why one might – even lovers of it. My professor confessed that he found some parts almost unbearable, but necessary.
This is a book of wisdom. It is philosophy more than anything else. Not so much a “how-to” guide for living, but a finger pointing to the direction of wisdom. We must not focus our lives so much on making money and being comfortable, but we must explore our lives and selves more. We have become very good at the externals of life, but do we know why we live? This book is a finger in the right direction. ( )