Walden

Rating:
Summary: Find Yourself, but Not Always In the Woods.
Review: Walden is the most important book that I have ever read. It is instructive, but not to be taken literally. It is not dictating that everyone should go to the woods, but find their own God. For Thoreau that was Nature in the woods, for Thomas Carlyle, Great Leaders. What is it for you?

Rating:
Summary: Reflecting Pond
Review: Walden, what is it? Is it a book on nature, a book on ecology, a book on human nature, a prescient description of the struggle between modern civilization and the land that nurtured it, a critique of mankind, a string of quotable gems, an account of a mind, or, like Star Wars, a way of slipping a deep and human spirituality into someone else's mind without their recognizing it? It depends on who is doing the reading and when. Read it for any of these purposes, and it will not disappoint. If you've never read it, read it. If you read it for class years ago and hated it, read it again. This may be the most subtle, multi-layered and carefully worked piece of literature you'll ever find. By keeping the down-to-earth tone (no doubt in reaction to the high-flying prose of his friend, R.W. Emerson) Thoreau pulls a Columbo, and fools us into thinking he's writing simply about observing nature, living in a cabin, or sounding a pond. Somehow by the end of Walden, however, you may find it is your self he has sounded. People have accused Thoreau of despising mankind, but read deeper and you will discover he loved people well enough to chide us, show us our faults (admitting he's as bad as the worst of us), and give to all of us this wonderful gift, a book you could base your life on. There is more day to dawn, he reminds us at the end: the sun is but a morning star.

Rating:
Summary: Thoreau was a genius, like Jerry Garcia
Review: When Thoreau made his great experiment of withdrawal from the social world he went into the woods in order to confront himself and real life. This action , the action of withdrawal and the ensuing revelation have served as inspiration and example for many others overwhelmed by the burdens and business of life. Thoreau however was not an ordinary person in withdrawal. He was a very deep student of Nature and of the philosophical literature of his Time, of Emerson. And he was in tune with the Transcendental spirit of that time that reaching out and beyond to a spiritual reality which in some way would unite all worlds and bring the universal unity of Mankind. The combination of his deep perception of the local physical world and the vast stretch of his richly metaphoric mind help make one of the great American classics.
This work is so aphoristically rich that it is difficult to read it as simple consecutive prose. As with Emerson one must pause and rethink the various aphorisms given us. But one thing, the spirit, the spirit of hope of intellectual adventure of faith in a greatness and goodness in Nature carry us forward. As Thoreau said " There is new day to dawn , the sun is but a morning star"