Rating: 
Summary: Torture
Review: Henry David Thoreau's Walden is one of the most hypercritical, boring, repeatitive book I've ever had the pleasure of reading. He's completlely contridicts himself or repeats the same idea in a different form. Look at me; I'm a famous writer. I'm a famous write; look at me. Look at me, the famous writer. Me you will look at; the famous writer. Me the famous writer, you will look at. It goes on, and then he talks about beans and ants. Just horrid...it literally hurts to read.
Rating:
Summary: A waste of time...
Review: This is the most horrible book I've ever read. If you think you can "discover yourself" or "discover the meaning of life" by going out into the woods by yourself well then you have a social problem. I don't believe a pond can tell you anything about people or about anything for that matter. What can happen to you if you go live in solitary for a long period of time is that you can develop a mental problem, and that's about it. Sure, lets get rid of everything in life that makes us happy, simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. Ha! This only sounds like a very depraved soul crying out for help. I think the only thing we can learn from this book is that it is not a good idea to go live in the woods by yourself, because it's hard. I say this book is a complete waste of time. It is perhaps the most boring piece of literature I've ever laid eyes. I say save your time and money and don't read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: The Man of Freedom
Review: Henry David Thoreau is perhaps one of the greatest literary figures of the nineteenth century. He was a friend of Emerson's and a Transcendentalist. He saw the beauty of life and how we mortals squander it with too much getting and spending. He was a man who not only stopped to smell the sacred scents of nature, he went on to become imbued with the great truths that permeated the wood and the pond that he loved so dearly. In an idyllic sense, he was a man for all seasons, a man who took on authority and questioned its right to dictate over the life of the individual. This was indeed his great theme, for he said: "I am too high born to be the property of any government." And he also said, "That government which governs best governs least." But I doubt the conservatives can claim him as one of their own. For he was among other things a staunch abolitionist, and he was also against America's involvement in the war with Mexico, (the Viet Nam of its day). So what has changed? Not much. Life is still a battle between the individual's rights and needs against societie's injustices and a life of conformity. But even if you never read Walden please think about this quote: "Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man can not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears the beat of a different drummer. Let each man step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." Now that's something I can sink my teeth into!
Rating:
Summary: What a great book
Review: There aren't too mny men brave enough to do what H.D. Thoreau did. To just drop it all to live in the woods and live off the land. I admire him and think that what he has to say is really important in both Walden and Civil Obedience. They are great pieces of work and deserve some looking into.
Rating:
Summary: Torture!
Review: As a social studies teacher and a student of history one can not deny the importance of Thoreau's views on civil disobedience. The impact of his teachings on the world are amazing. Thoreau's views on civil disobedience and their affect on Martin Luther King and Ghandi helped make this world a better place. So again, I understand why Thoreau is important. Now onto Walden Pond. Do people actually read this and enjoy it? I was required to read this for a masters course in early American Intellectual Thought and man I will never read this again. Pages and pages of boring unimportant information about his daily life....zzzzz. How does anyone enjoy reading about how he built his hut or what clothes he wears. Can he bore us some more with his agricultural failures? This book was torture. Yes Thoreau is important, but so is my time and reading this book was a complete waste. If you have trouble sleeping, pick up this book
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been better
Review: I don't fully appreciate his writing style. Not being one to enjoy word puzzles I hated all those long complicated sentences. Still his insights were quite amusing; some with which I found myself agreeing. I think for most of us that's what it takes to really enjoy and I think there is something here for everyone. I have read more entertaining memoirs so I won't give it the full five stars, but it beats a couple nights in front of the tube.
Rating:
Summary: Splendid and timeless read
Review: There are probably only a few books that you will read in your life that will cause you to re-examine your own. For me, Walden is one of them. Thoreau plays the pauper philosopher, observing man and nature in all of their glorious routines. At first one may perceive Thoreau as a cynical eccentric, cajoling his fellow man and questioning nearly every move that he makes. But on further examination we see Thoreau as an optimist, empathizing with man's desire for a sense of purpose and our need to be appreciated. He'll tease you with a timeless gem: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," then proceed to give an intricate description of the Walden flora and environment for numerous pages. Thoreau is a Plato in rags, a people's Shakespeare with a perpetual smile and a self awareness difficult to match. I implore you to be patient as the prose is atypical of everything I've read, including works from the same era. Read carefully, stay the course and Thoreau will not let you down.
Rating:
Summary: An Obvious Classic
Review: This is an obvious classic of American literature, and for good reason. Throeau has much to teach us about living--really living, not just existing. Life is more than just being part of the "rat race," trying to "get ahead" or having a higher "standard of living" than our parents did. The fact is, marketers play us for fools, and we let them. Life is about searching, finding, exploring, loving, winning, losing, living, dying. Life is not the sum total of the material possessions we amass, but the sum total of the experiences we have and the memories we make. Thoreau understood that, and anybody who reads this book should understand it too.
Rating:
Summary: el experimento de la soledad
Review: walden o la vida en los bosques es mas que una novela, una narracion sobre un experimento en donde el autor se refugia por casi dos anos en una pequena cabana sin contacto con el mundo exterior y lleva una vida austera y disciplinada, creo que es un ejemplo de disciplina interna que ya nadie practica y que se ha perdido. el autor entra en contacto con el mundo para un reingreso al este con una perspectiva diferente. ademas esta novela aunque su tono no sea atractivo y su discurrir sea lento es un clasico que no hay que perderse. LUIS MENDEZ luismendez@codetel.net.do
Rating:
Summary: it is the worst book that I have EVER read
Review: This is most definitely the worst book that I have ever read. Do yourself a favor and avoid it at all costs. If you would like to know what it is about, i can tell you right now: it is a book about nothing.Thoreau goes on and on for ages, and he isn't really talking about anything...
| 
