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Summary: This is the only Walden you'll need!
Review: A Thoreauvian for many years and a passionate reader of Walden, I grabbed Harding's annotated volume soon after it was published. It really changed my reading of the book. Previously unnoticed subtleties were revealed!(thank you Mr. Harding). This, as all Walden editions, really is a text for better living.Also, a beautiful and well-crafted volume (thank you Houghton-Mifflin), a pleasure to hold and read. Get this book!!!! Savor this book! Study this book! Love this book!
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Summary: What an inspiration!
Review: Even though I live in Australia in 2004, I found this 19th century book sensational! I cannot reccomend it highly enough: witty, intelligent, honest, articulate and timeless.
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Summary: A Great Book, A Failed Experiment
Review: For 2 years and 2 months, Thoreau decided to live life in the Concord Wilderness near Walden Pond, as an experiment. He wanted to see if complete self-reliance was possible. As an experiment in pure solitary living, unaided by the trapping and encumberances of society, Thoreau failed. But as a book of profound insight and beauty, Waldon ranks supreme in the history of American literature, and the bulk of his insights and observations stand. I say failed, because Thoreau often spent evenings at the town pub, drink and talking, where from he would stumble home drunk without the aid of lamp light to find his way. Moreover, asside from a doting mother who would often bring him homemade victuals as a break from mountain berries and salted meats, he often stayed over with the Emersons when the loneliness was particularly biting. So clearly Thoreau was never as detached from society as he would have us believe, and yet that is neither here nor there. Thoreau was an amazing writer, an observant naturalist, brilliant social critic, and perhaps the most singular individual America has ever known - and for that Thoreau cannot be beat. edition of Waldon is particularly good, in that Hardin has done exactly what all editors should do. In keeping with the Thoreauvian motto, he has made the text simple and accessable, clarifying points with annotation and references. After reading Waldon, you might also want to check Harding's biography of Thoreau, which I highly recommend. Among other things, you will learn about his trouble with women. (Interestingly, like many philospohers, Thoreau died a virgin.)
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Summary: Suck the marrow from this book!
Review: Henry David Thoreau gives up his life and most of his posessions and decides to live in a bare necessities cabin in the woods for two years to examine his life. Lucky for us - he brought a pen and paper with him to write it all down! His main focus in this book is to remind you over and over again that the things that you own and the money that you make are not the things in life that define you. He tries to teach us how to seperate ourselves from the hustle and bustle of every day life, stating that the less that we own and the simpler we make our lives, the happier we will be. "Simplify, Simplify, Simplify!"
Everyone I know who has read this book has walked away having learned something. It is a classic. A must have for any book collector - and a must read for EVERYONE!
This edition of the book is simply beautiful, too. Well crafted and binded, it adds the perfect complement to such literary perfection.
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Summary: Excellent Edition
Review: I am one of those people who has read Walden over and over again over a period of decades, and have owned several editions. This is by far the best I have seen. It is quite helpful in the explanations it provides for some of the more obscure passages, is beautifully put together, and is simply a pleasure to read. Thoreau was part crank and part visionary, like a crazy uncle. I am glad to have known him through his books. Taken with a grain of salt, his perspectives are refreshing and often illuminating. He helps his readers see there are indeed different ways to look at the world.
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Summary: INSOMNIA'S CURE
Review: I first read Solitude in high school(over 10 years ago), not as part of the regular curriculum but for US Academic Decathlon. To think about it even now still bores me. Reading Solitude may have been the most boring part of USAD, & that ain't a little bit of boredom. Thoreau, Emerson, those other guys I can barely differentiate, especially the 'fire & brimstone' types were some of the reasons I took British lit instead of American lit in college. I also took British lit rather than American because it is 800+ years vs. 200+. (Thanks Mr. M, my h.s. English lit teacher). But back to Walden. Think of it. You decide to live in solitude for a couple of years, in the 19th century! The very idea is boring. Let's not get into no t.v., et.c. But not even the daily news? Didn't they have newspapers back then? Before some make the mistake of thinking I don't understand, I (yawn) say I can appreciate one's desire to engage himself by the near total exclusion of others. I just don't believe its something you need to read about some guy doing over 150 years ago. On the other hand, if you wanted to avoid those very interesting times, you'd do what Thoreau did if you could so afford. If not you'd read about it, to quiet the debate going on outside one person's journey of self-discovery. Specifically, if I wanted to learn more about those times I'd check up on abolitionist writings, women's suffrage, and other things from the period that were more topical. Nevertheless, I could use a copy though, for those troublesome nights when I can't get to sleep. P.S. Thoreau is one of those authors you list that maintains your "with it-ism" in our increasingly 'my country, right or wrong' times.
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Summary: A compass for the bewildered world
Review: Imagine a society that falls spiritually asleep. Then imagine a man who wakes up from this societal lethargy and strikes out on a personal adventure in living, awareness, and enlightenment.
Well...perhaps Thoreau isn't quite the Buddha, but you have to give the man credit for making good with what he had at his disposal. For centuries untold, the highest spiritual aspirants of our world have striven for a life of purity and simplicity apart from the masses. Many of them had great teachers and spiritual guides; but some, like Thoreau, had to go it alone. There is a saying in the Dhammapada: "But if you cannot find / friend or master to go with you, / travel on alone / like a king who has given away his kingdom, / Like an elephant in the forest."
Thoreau is such an elephant, diligently making his way through the forest, seeking a path of which our society has lost sight.
Anyone who is bewildered with the modern world, who sees layer after layer of absurdity and insanity in our industrial age, or who has felt acutely the loss of spiritual identity in the western world, should pick up Walden. Thoreau knows the way better than most; follow his lead to the heart of wisdom.
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Summary: contradiction
Review: In Henry David Thoreau's Walden, he contradicts his non-conformist, anti-society ideas. He writes about rejecting society however when he lived at Walden he went into town every day to socialize and buy things. He wrote about seclusion but was in contact with other people almost every day. His writings are wonderful works but I think its ironic that he doesn't practices what he preaches. Thoreau, in Walden, wrote a lot about human and animals. He compares the instincts of animals to the barbaric qualities of humans. In Chapter 11, "Higher Laws," he sees a ground squirrel and feels an urge to kill it and eat it raw. In Chapter 12, "Brute Neighbors," he watches a battle of ants and feels his animalistic instincts compel him to watch it to the end. He studies life in the woods and is always around it therefore his statement of total seclusion is proven false. Thoreau is one of my favorite writers and his style intrigues me greatly. However, he carefully alters his writings for himself to sound non-conformist and anti-society. Not that this should be held against him. He is a wonderful writer with a distinct style, but he isn't really a non-conformist. He conformed to the non-conformist style but couldn't give up his social life.
Rating:
Summary: contradiction
Review: In Henry David Thoreau's Walden, he contradicts his non-conformist, anti-society ideas. He writes about rejecting society however when he lived at Walden he went into town every day to socialize and buy things. He wrote about seclusion but was in contact with other people almost every day. His writings are wonderful works but I think its ironic that he doesn't practices what he preaches. Thoreau, in Walden, wrote a lot about human and animals. He compares the instincts of animals to the barbaric qualities of humans. In Chapter 11, "Higher Laws," he sees a ground squirrel and feels an urge to kill it and eat it raw. In Chapter 12, "Brute Neighbors," he watches a battle of ants and feels his animalistic instincts compel him to watch it to the end. He studies life in the woods and is always around it therefore his statement of total seclusion is proven false. Thoreau is one of my favorite writers and his style intrigues me greatly. However, he carefully alters his writings for himself to sound non-conformist and anti-society. Not that this should be held against him. He is a wonderful writer with a distinct style, but he isn't really a non-conformist. He conformed to the non-conformist style but couldn't give up his social life.
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Summary: A Binding Worthy of the Book
Review: Just as Alexander carried a copy of the Iliad in a precious cask, I have cherished a dog-eared and well marked copy of Walden for a quarter of a century. Now at last we have a binding worthy of one of the greatest books of all time. The embossed cover, the lavishly illustrated endpapers and page footers, the vast number of drawings from Thoreau's pen, and the detailed Masorah-like marginalia elucidate the familiar text and enrich the reading experience. The many references in the notes to Thoreau's Journal have lead me far afield into the various editions of the Journal (at least those I can afford). This is a first rate edition which I hope to carry with me the rest of my life.
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