Rating: 
Summary: Good Author...Marginal Editor
Review: I'm not super educated so take this for what it's worth. I read an excerpt of Walden in High School and ever since then I have wanted to read more. I finally got around to it and ordered this edited version. I like Thoreau's outlook even though his writing is a little much for me sometimes. McKibben does footnote some things to explain them. Most of those footnotes, though, are worthless. Some only refer to the other copyright information that Thoreau eludes to (or quotes). And worse even still is when McKibben puts in personal opinions and 'tree-hugger' facts to support what appears to be his agenda of conservation.His editing footnotes really had a poor impact on the book. What would have been useful for a 'hick' from Wyoming would have been some more translations of French words and explanations of references and ideas. That would have made the story much easier to read/understand and enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: This Book Needed One Heck of a Good Editor
Review: I've read a lot of books in my time, but never one this bad. There is literally no plot at all. Any good writer of fiction knows that you need rising action, and then a climax. I kept waiting for the plot to show up, but there was none. If Thoreau had taken my advice he would have gone bear hunting, and chased some Indians with a gun, then maybe find a good woman to settle down with. That would have made for a good read. Or maybe if Thoreau had slimmed this little number down to 35 pages on how to build a house it would have been more useful. Some of these sentences just make no sense. Check out this: "It is only the serious eye peering from and the sincere life passed within it, which restrain laughter and consecrate the costume of any people." Yeah, whatever you say Thoreau. I gave it three stars though because, to his credit, this book is kind of long and it takes a lot of patience to write a book this boring. I give him mad props for that. He just needs a good lesson in suspense.
Rating: 
Summary: More about this edition of "Walden"
Review: Recent scholarship has concentrated on Thoreau as prescient forest ecologist; McKibben--author of "The End of Nature" and one of our best-read social and environmental critics--places him firmly back in his role as cultural and spiritual seer. McKibben identifies two questions asked by Thoreau as central to a late-twentieth-century reading of "Walden": "How much is enough?" and "How do I know what I want?" Questions, McKibben reminds us, that must come to dominate the end of the twentieth century if we are to live well into the twenty-first.
Rating: 
Summary: "Fan" is short for "Fanatic"
Review: This book was a true inspiration to me and was part of the reason I fell in love with Nature. Even if you don't WANT to fall in love with Nature you will find this book to be a veritable Bartlett's full of quotable quotes. I've read Walden through twice and read my favorite sections inumerable times. When I lived in Massachusetts, I loved to read the book AT Walden pond. I've traveled to that little pond via bycycle, motorcycle and car and have seen the pond in every season and every state of weather. I have walked and run around the pond . I have swam across it many times, once at the price of mild hypothermia. I have skiid around and across it. I think the only part of that danged pond I have not seen is the bottom. The book is much like the pond -- you can read it over and over and it will always be fresh and you will never have plumbed its depths fully. The only reason I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because the detailed nature observations may be tedious for readers not fortunate enough to be able to visit the pond. Still, everyone should read this book. It is your best reminder that "Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads."
Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: Unbelievable! I went to Barnes & Noble the other day to purchase a copy of Walden. They had the Cliff's Notes but not the book. Is that a profound comment on our times, or just the last straw that persuaded me to write this review? I have read Walden from cover to cover many times. I have read excerpts from it many more times. I have never found it boring or tedious, as some reviewers have. In fact, I have found it to be one of the few books worth re-reading on a frequent basis. Why? Our times do not differ significantly from Thoreau's. He saw a society enthralled with "progress," such as the ability to travel from place to place via railroad at the astonishing speed of 35 miles per hour, without any idea of what to do when they arrived. He travelled by foot, and saw the life that others hurried by. Has it ever seemed to you that the acquisition of ever-more-expensive habits and tastes, and the need to work longer and harder to satisfy them, is ultimately a waste of the precious gift of time and life that each of us is blessed with? Do you wonder how (or if) people who live without televison, video games, and automobiles can be happy or fulfilled? How would you fare if you were stripped of your possessions but still retained the ability to obtain the necessaries of life? Could you treat that as an opportunity to discover more about what it means to live? If any of these are questions that have nibbled at your psyche, read Walden. If you love nature and its intricacies, read Walden. If you've ever thought about through-hiking the Appalachian Trail, read Walden. If you think modern-day life can't be improved on, or you want a quick read that will entertain you for a few hours, read something else. And if you read Walden and don't find it meaningful or profound, perhaps you will find another book that will remain as significant an influence in your life as Walden has been in mine.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: Unbelievable! I went to Barnes & Noble the other day to purchase a copy of Walden. They had the Cliff's Notes but not the book. Is that a profound comment on our times, or just the last straw that persuaded me to write this review? I have read Walden from cover to cover many times. I have read excerpts from it many more times. I have never found it boring or tedious, as some reviewers have. In fact, I have found it to be one of the few books worth re-reading on a frequent basis. Why? Our times do not differ significantly from Thoreau's. He saw a society enthralled with "progress," such as the ability to travel from place to place via railroad at the astonishing speed of 35 miles per hour, without any idea of what to do when they arrived. He travelled by foot, and saw the life that others hurried by. Has it ever seemed to you that the acquisition of ever-more-expensive habits and tastes, and the need to work longer and harder to satisfy them, is ultimately a waste of the precious gift of time and life that each of us is blessed with? Do you wonder how (or if) people who live without televison, video games, and automobiles can be happy or fulfilled? How would you fare if you were stripped of your possessions but still retained the ability to obtain the necessaries of life? Could you treat that as an opportunity to discover more about what it means to live? If any of these are questions that have nibbled at your psyche, read Walden. If you love nature and its intricacies, read Walden. If you've ever thought about through-hiking the Appalachian Trail, read Walden. If you think modern-day life can't be improved on, or you want a quick read that will entertain you for a few hours, read something else. And if you read Walden and don't find it meaningful or profound, perhaps you will find another book that will remain as significant an influence in your life as Walden has been in mine.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic... And For Good Reason
Review: Walden is one of the most classic examples of American literature. In his book, Thoreau describes his break from 19th century "civilization", and his experiment at surviving alone in the woods near Walden Pond. Thoreau survives on a bare minimum of money, food and "necessities". Along the way, he discovers how fragile our environment really is (even in the 19th century) and becomes one of the nation's first environmentalists. Walden is an absolute classic. It may have been written over 100 years ago, but its content seems more pertinent today than ever before. It is perhaps even more pertinent today than at the time it was originally written. If you are looking for a book to help you understand the fragile balance of both nature and humanity, this one is a must. It certainly puts one's life into perspecive.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic... And For Good Reason
Review: Walden is one of the most classic examples of American literature. In his book, Thoreau describes his break from 19th century "civilization", and his experiment at surviving alone in the woods near Walden Pond. Thoreau survives on a bare minimum of money, food and "necessities". Along the way, he discovers how fragile our environment really is (even in the 19th century) and becomes one of the nation's first environmentalists. Walden is an absolute classic. It may have been written over 100 years ago, but its content seems more pertinent today than ever before. It is perhaps even more pertinent today than at the time it was originally written. If you are looking for a book to help you understand the fragile balance of both nature and humanity, this one is a must. It certainly puts one's life into perspecive.
Rating:
Summary: Henry David Thoreau¿s Walden
Review: When I read Thoreau's book Walden, I was amazed to learn that Thoreau's writing had such a great influence on such men as Mohandas Gandhi and Dr Martin Luther King. They read Thoreau's book on "civil disobedience," which advocated passive resistance (Peaceful protest). Another thing that surprised me was the way that Emerson and James Russell Lowell degraded Thoreau in their speeches at Henry's memorial service upon his death. During the memorial these two so-called friends of Thoreau called him a lazy braggart, a societies maverick & a drop out! Perhaps by societies standards he was a rebel but certainly not the worthless ne'er do well that these men painted him. Thoreau sets out to build a cabin on Walden Pond in order to be at one with nature. Thoreau was at heart a naturalist. He resisted paying a tax which he spent one night in the Concord jail for. This was to prove a point. He lived at Walden Pond for 2 years. Upon returning to society, he continued to write his books. He said that, "most men lead lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreau was born July 12, 1817 & died May 6, 1862 of T.B. He built his cabin on March 1845 at Walden Pond at a cost of $28,12 & half cents. Thoreau started out life in the Transcendentalist movement but he later departed from this group. He was a genus that was unappreciated in his day.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening
Review: When reading Walden i realized that not only is his writing insightful on the aspects of life in his time. But it transcends generations. I have found only a few other pieces of writing that coincide with my thoughts besides this book. His thoughts on life's essentials and how needless they can be gives such a different view than other pieces of literature. I was especially taken by how he views the importance of education. I agree fully with the fact that experience can teach us so much more than formal schooling. Over all the book was a beautiful representation of a better way to view life than what modern culture teaches.
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