Rating: 
Summary: Inspirational Collection of Pure Brilliance
Review: After perusing the wonderful assortment of Emerson's work in this marvelous compendium, I was inspired by the sheer genius of this man. I found his work inspirational because it reminded me how insightful and profound we humans can be. As we go through the day-to-day of modern life, it has become apparent that our culture believes the more basic you speak the more real you are being---well after reading Emerson, modern "realness" can take a hike. Here's to the intellect!Buy this book, sit back and read what thoughts we are capable of forging, and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Life altering
Review: After reading the essay, "Self Reliance," I had a new perspective on my own intellectual capacity. Emerson's faith in reason, truth, and the potential of the individual, are inspiring. These essays are a great introduction to learning to trust yourself to find your own spiritual path. He is religious with out being dogmatic. He wonderfully marries the intellect with wonder. mmmm. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Life altering
Review: After reading the essay, "Self Reliance," I had a new perspective on my own intellectual capacity. Emerson's faith in reason, truth, and the potential of the individual, are inspiring. These essays are a great introduction to learning to trust yourself to find your own spiritual path. He is religious with out being dogmatic. He wonderfully marries the intellect with wonder. mmmm. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Life-Changing
Review: All I can say is Emerson changed my life. Once I read "Self-Reliance" in school, his writing sparked my interest. I read a few more of his essays, then became "addicted" to this book. Despite its length, I read all of his essays and poems in 6 months. I highly recommend this book to anyone. Emerson is a genius. Everyone should read at least one of Emerson's essays in their lifetime. They are amazing.
Rating:
Summary: Life-Changing
Review: All I can say is Emerson changed my life. Once I read "Self-Reliance" in school, his writing sparked my interest. I read a few more of his essays, then became "addicted" to this book. Despite its length, I read all of his essays and poems in 6 months. I highly recommend this book to anyone. Emerson is a genius. Everyone should read at least one of Emerson's essays in their lifetime. They are amazing.
Rating:
Summary: Life-Changing
Review: All I can say is Emerson changed my life. Once I read "Self-Reliance" in school, his writing sparked my interest. I read a few more of his essays, then became "addicted" to this book. Despite its length, I read all of his essays and poems in 6 months. I highly recommend this book to anyone. Emerson is a genius. Everyone should read at least one of Emerson's essays in their lifetime. They are amazing.
Rating:
Summary: living thought
Review: Does it make any sense to call this man dead? I cannot read any essay he ever wrote without hearing a call to life and to my better self. More than a pot of Folgers Emerson can keep me up at night, more than any man or woman I've met in this life he makes me think and wonder and love both- his prose is so honest that it "rises naturally to poetry." There is a reason our "greatest poets" lived in such awe of him. This man knew, felt, thought, lived the full range of man and soul and never flinched. In fact, he wrote it down. He is unmatched. Any time you spend reading this would be better spent buying this book. He is among the greatest of Americans. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: living thought
Review: Does it make any sense to call this man dead? I cannot read any essay he ever wrote without hearing a call to life and to my better self. More than a pot of Folgers Emerson can keep me up at night, more than any man or woman I've met in this life he makes me think and wonder and love both- his prose is so honest that it "rises naturally to poetry." There is a reason our "greatest poets" lived in such awe of him. This man knew, felt, thought, lived the full range of man and soul and never flinched. In fact, he wrote it down. He is unmatched. Any time you spend reading this would be better spent buying this book. He is among the greatest of Americans. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Emerson.
Review: Ever since first reading Emerson in college, I've been looking forward to revisiting his essays. Considering this collection is nearly 850 pages long, one would be on solid ground saying that everything Emerson ever wrote is "essential." His best known essays are included here: "Nature," "The American Scholar," "The Transcendentalist," "The Lord's Supper," "The Poet," and my favorite, "Self Reliance," together with essays on subjects including love (pp. 190-200), friendship (pp. 201-214), prudence (pp. 215-224), experience (pp. 307-326), character (pp. 327-340), nature (pp. 364-377), politics (pp. 378-389), farming (pp. 671-581), Plato (pp. 420-445), Napoleon (pp. 447-466), Abraham Lincoln (pp. 829-833), Carlyle (pp. 837-841), and Emerson's friend and neighbor, Thoreau (pp. 809-825). About Thoreau, Emerson writes, "he was bred to no profession, he never married; he lived alone; he never went to church; he never voted; he refused to pay a tax to the State; he ate no flesh, he drank no wine, he never knew the use of tobacco; and, though a naturalist, he used neither trap nor gun. He chose, wisely no doubt for himself, to be the bachelor of thought and Nature . . . It was a pleasure and a privilege to walk with him. He knew the country like a fox or a bird, and passed through it as freely by paths of his own" (pp. 810; 817-18). Emerson "opens doors and tells us to look at things for ourselves" (p. xiii) poet, Mary Oliver (THE LEAF AND THE CLOUD), writes in her excellent Introduction to this collection. Like Thoreau, Emerson's writing stays with you for life. "The invariable mark of wisdom," he writes in "Nature," "is to see the miraculous in the common" (p. 38). "It is better to be alone than in bad company," he says in "The Transcendentalist" (p. 90). "It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude," he writes in "Self-Reliance" (p. 136). "If we live truly, we shall see truly" (p. 143). In the same essay he says, "We must go alone. I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching" (p. 145). "We live amid surfaces," he observes in "The Poet," "and the true art of life is to skate well on them" (p. 315). Whether you're new to Emerson or not, page after page, this recently-published collection of his "essential writings" will appeal to any reader interested in experiencing an original American thinker. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: Essential Emerson.
Review: Ever since first reading Emerson in college, I've been looking forward to revisiting his essays. Considering this collection is nearly 850 pages long, one would be on solid ground saying that everything Emerson ever wrote is "essential." His best known essays are included here: "Nature," "The American Scholar," "The Transcendentalist," "The Lord's Supper," "The Poet," and my favorite, "Self Reliance," together with essays on subjects including love (pp. 190-200), friendship (pp. 201-214), prudence (pp. 215-224), experience (pp. 307-326), character (pp. 327-340), nature (pp. 364-377), politics (pp. 378-389), farming (pp. 671-581), Plato (pp. 420-445), Napoleon (pp. 447-466), Abraham Lincoln (pp. 829-833), Carlyle (pp. 837-841), and Emerson's friend and neighbor, Thoreau (pp. 809-825). About Thoreau, Emerson writes, "he was bred to no profession, he never married; he lived alone; he never went to church; he never voted; he refused to pay a tax to the State; he ate no flesh, he drank no wine, he never knew the use of tobacco; and, though a naturalist, he used neither trap nor gun. He chose, wisely no doubt for himself, to be the bachelor of thought and Nature . . . It was a pleasure and a privilege to walk with him. He knew the country like a fox or a bird, and passed through it as freely by paths of his own" (pp. 810; 817-18). Emerson "opens doors and tells us to look at things for ourselves" (p. xiii) poet, Mary Oliver (THE LEAF AND THE CLOUD), writes in her excellent Introduction to this collection. Like Thoreau, Emerson's writing stays with you for life. "The invariable mark of wisdom," he writes in "Nature," "is to see the miraculous in the common" (p. 38). "It is better to be alone than in bad company," he says in "The Transcendentalist" (p. 90). "It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude," he writes in "Self-Reliance" (p. 136). "If we live truly, we shall see truly" (p. 143). In the same essay he says, "We must go alone. I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching" (p. 145). "We live amid surfaces," he observes in "The Poet," "and the true art of life is to skate well on them" (p. 315). Whether you're new to Emerson or not, page after page, this recently-published collection of his "essential writings" will appeal to any reader interested in experiencing an original American thinker. G. Merritt
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