Walden

Rating:
Summary: Burn the libraries; their worth is in this book.
Review: As Omar said of the Koran, I say of Walden. This is the single greatest book I've ever read, hands down. Words really can't describe how amazing it is, though I doubt that it will affect many people the same way it has me. That said, this edition (the Konemann) is one of the best I've seen. The book itself is helpfully supplied with footnotes (which are something of a necessity for a born quoter like Thoreau), unobtrusively marked by a leaf in the margins of the pages, which refer you to the notes in the back: this is an excellent way to supply these notes without interrupting the flow of the text. There are no elaborate essays on the meaning of Walden, however, so the reader is left to judge the book on its own terms. The book itself is svelte and compact; a perfect backpack-sized vade mecum.

This book, with shipping, is less than 10 dollars. It was one of the best purchases I've ever made.

Rating:
Summary: World Classic
Review: Borrowing a corner of friend Ralph Waldo Emerson's farm, Thoreau sets out to conduct an experiment in living more simply for the sake of living more fully spiritually and intellectually. He builds a small cabin and begins to live self-sufficiently with his own hand, farming, hunting and building as he needs. By keeping his wants simple he keeps his horizons broad and finds that he may devote himself to higher callings than he might with the encumbrances of modern life.

Walden is the journal of this experiment, providing an account of both the mode of living he has chosen and the far-reaching contemplations he is able to afford himself by that mode of living. It is page after page of beautiful prose and imagery considering his place in nature and society both--or simply appreciating the length and breadth of the day from his doorstep, having given himself the freedom to forego his work if he pleases by keeping his wants simple and true to what the human spirit needs rather than what vanity or social convention say he must need. While his thoughts wander far afield at times his observations are invariably insightful and often profound. (It is startling the number of well-known quotes and observations that find their first expression in Walden.)

And this is his theme, not to live as a recluse, but to suggest that we all live more simply so that we may live more fully, that our villages be spread out and we allow ourselves space for thought and freedom to follow a muse, and that we further make our villages and indeed the whole of nature our living universities and schools, making the student learn by living and the community itself perpetual teacher and student.

While his own experiment called for living apart for the sake of testing the limits of self-reliance, Thoreau does not advocate a world of hermits. He remains very much engaged in the society around himself, only asking that we consider what it means to provide for ourselves and if we haven't found that most of our effort is devoted to superfluity and nearly none to the mind and spirit. He argues that the essentials of maintaining one's self are much simpler than society has deemed and that what passes for the norm has become a hindrance to living rather than an improvement.

Rating:
Summary: Counter-Culture Writing of Yore
Review: I did not particularly enjoy this book, but it is one of those books that anyone who wants to study American Literature must read. Some parts are fascinating, and some of his arguments are strikingly acute, subtle, and persuasive. However, his experiment in natural living and in a more honest human economy just does not ring true to me. While his minor points are often inspiring, the overall argument simply strikes me as a little too self-righteous and overbearing. His indictment of society aside, I just don't find his alternative views as an improvement. I'm not interested in breaking down said arguments for the sake of this review, but I find its strengths to lie in the quality of the writing, the completeness of the philosophy, and the conviction in which it is written. Its weaknesses are debatable. I can see where one could argue there are none if one were to agree with his points and enjoys the narrative style. Others may say it is rather long-winded and/or cynical. I fall somewhere in the middle, as I actually suspect few readers will. I think most people will love or hate Walden, but, like I said, every serious student must give it a chance.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible!
Review: I had not read this growing up but wish I had. This is such a wonderful book. There are not many pictures in here - just a hand drawn map in one part of the book. Its excerpts from Thoreau's journal over the two year period when he lived on Walden's pond. He did not live like a recluse (he went in to Concord almost every day) so its not a book about living alone per se. Its more about reflecting on life, considering why one "is" and recognizing the beauty and mystery of nature around us every day, everywhere. Thoreau talks of regular daily things too like what it costs him to farm, or having cider, or building a chimney. The writing style is conversational, open, honest. He doesn't try to get tricky with words, he just tells it like he sees it. It's so beautiful. For anyone (like me) who indeed sees nature as their "religion" or sees the Great Spirit in every leaf, tree and bug, this book will be adored. So many wonderful messages, thoughts, woven throughout this book. Its an incredible work.

Rating:
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.


Rating:
Summary: The cheese stands alone (and in the woods)
Review: This book screams simplicity!

In this book, Henry David Thoreau takes an extended look beyond human nature and human habit. He brings forth a new and exciting view point on life and teaches how to live in happiness without the confusion of mechanical materials. I had to read this book for a 9th grade Language Arts assignment, and I had never heard of Walden or Thoreau before this project was assigned. When I completed this book, I felt very refreshed. It encouraged me to take a second look at my own life, and simply discard of the things which were causing complications or confusion. This book stretched past the limits and capacity of my mind as a 9th grade student. It forced me to think. Judging by the majority of my peers, I am convinced that anything that would force them to THINK harder, deserves 5 shining stars.

Rating:
Summary: Reflective, yet limited
Review: Thoreau was a reflective man. He asked pertinent questions, but just didn't go far enough in his search. As a pagan, he was unaware of the realities of Jesus Christ. In spite of his limited vision, he had some profound observations at times. One of my favorites is:

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple-tree or an oak. Should he turn his spring into summer?"

Rating:
Summary: A Study of the Beauty of Nature.
Review: Thoreau was an American naturalist and Walden is his meticulously kept record of the phenomena in nature that he observed. He espouses the benefits of nature as well as the healing properties of simple toil and the benefits of rugged independence. Thoreau's mantra of "Simplify, Simplify, Simplify" has become pertinent again and again over the years since he wrote this little book. The book is an excellent nature book as well. Thoreau spent hours observing nature, and wrote about it with a simple and beautiful prose. Thoreau spent two years at the pond Walden. This book covers his observations during that time.

Rating:
Summary: Just a man trying to shift for himself.
Review: Thoreau went into the Concord woods "to live deliberately" and to try to approach in practice his excellent motto--multum in parvo--much in little. Setting off to transact some business as simply as possible, Thoreau began his famous experiment a happy man. Importantly, he concluded it 26 months later in the same convivial state. After proving to himself it could be done, he saw no point in continuing his experiment in such extreme fashion, becoming once again "a sojourner in civilized life."

Thoreau was certainly not alone in the woods. Apart from the many visitors he welcomed, he took frequent trips "into town," or met woodchoppers and ice cutters during his marathon sojourns through the fields and forests surrounding his wooden castle. While most men, as he famously said, "led lives of quiet desperation," Thoreau seemed to soak up the life and energy of every waking hour, giving him an inexhaustible supply of earthly happiness. There was nothing quiet or desperate about Thoreau.

Classically-educated Thoreau was patently devoted to the writings of ancient authors, but to him the words and pages written by Nature were far more interesting and pleasing than histories in Latin or 2500 year-old Greek sagacity. In fact, Thoreau read very little during a good portion of his Walden experiment. He preferred sometimes just to sit on his doorstep from morning to noon, steeped in the sights and sounds of the abundant nature surrounding him. Of course he also wrote. But the Walden we read today is not simply a collection of his raw, day-to-day diary reflections. In fact, it wasnft until a few years later that he expanded and painstakingly polished the rough journal entries he made during his stay in the woods. Whatever the case, the writing in Walden is brilliant throughout. Foremost, Thoreau was a writerca profoundly masterful one at that.

People read his Walden for a variety of reasons. I read it because it speaks with an immortal voice...and every word, phrase and sentence resounds with transcendent clarity. This simple little book is so full of hope, wisdom and inspiration that one can read it a thousand times and each time discover a new kernel of brilliance or vision.

During his lifetime, traditional success would never be his. But you would have had to argue with him over the definition of success. "The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind," the author so wisely said. It is precisely because of such profundity that his "success" is guaranteed for as long as people still read good books.

"Follow your genius closely enough and it will not fail to show you a fresh prospect every hour." --H.D.T.

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful Exploration into Personal Satisfaction
Review: Walden invites us to re-examine and weigh our priorities in life. It maximizes the value of our present experience, emphasizes the richness of nature, and diminishes the value and rationality of our struggle for material success. The book is filled with quotes and ideas that inspire a renewed energy and fresh approach to life. It awakens a sense of appreciation for simple pleasures. It promotes a perspective that reflects a more innocent set of values -- that challenge the world's judgement of a man by the money he earns, the car he drives and the possessions he amasses.

In an era where excess spells success, it is calming and thought provoking to read about the Thorough's two years in the woods. It strikes a chord of things that we have known all along but have perhaps forgotten. The sights, sounds, and experiences of nature and the scenery provides us with a sensory scale to weigh our priorities and pursue new directions in our lives.

Can we attain personal satisfaction and hapiness by simplifying our lives? This book inspires us to try.