Walden

This is a good book, I enjoyed reading it.

Thoreau writes of his experience living in the woods in a cabin he built on Ralph Waldo Emerson's property in Concord, MA where he dwelt for 2 years. The first half or so is very interesting as he describes building his cabin and living off the land. He argues that people spend too much time working to make money to acquire things they really don't need and never really live. They are slaves to their lifestyle and what others expect. They have little if any time to themselves, while Thoreau spends his days doing whatever he wants in large part. He enjoys nature and writes in detail about everything he observes. When he takes 10+ pages to describe his observations of the ice melting on Walden Pond, I must admit, I thought it was time for him to rejoin society. But, for all the sections where he goes off the deep end, it is an interesting read because he complains about everything we do today and this takes place in 1846-1848: useless politicians whose only interest is in being reelected and being taxed for services he does not use (real estate based school tax). Thoreau refuses to pay his tax and is jailed. He loves it but someone bails hm out much to his chagrin. The reason for knocking off a star is he does go on sometimes. Warning: when this book was written some words had different meanings than they do today. This makes it sometimes challenging to follow. This is not a beach read. Read it when you have time to complicate it.

This is book reflects the unconventional genius that brought to light the American movement called Existentialism. As well as being a book of great popularity for university-level English Literature courses, its pithy, witty and wholesome writing makes it worthy for anyone curious about what it truly means to be a member of our modern society. The freedoms we consider in this present-day as an indisputable right, in his day were considered impudent, even vulgar. He swept aside all thoughts of such prissiness and convention to challenge at every turn what could be called the insanity of established societal norms. His highest goal, explicit and implicit, were to honour the ascendancy of the Individual as paramount, along with rational thought, in the determination of one's personal conduct and life's purpose. In effect, reading his words is to listen to the muses of an enlightened man, as so he was, Henry David Thoreau.

I just reread this book and it is not at all what I remembered. I had thought it was about Thoreau living in solitude for a year or two, but as I read he mentioned visitors and his going into town. What it is, is a description of what he saw and how he felt about it. The writing is standard for that time and is sometimes hard to read. There is not really a linear story, his descriptions are sometimes poetic and sometimes go on and on until you're lost. He often goes on long tangents that have nothing to do with what he started with. There are some excellent descriptions, but some of his conclusions are unscientific. The book seems cobbled together, like he wrote a diary and pieced it together later. I had thought that he deliberately moved to the woods to experience solitude, but in the book he says it was a business decision, but that never gets explained. There are quite a few great observations and insights, but I found the last chapter on civil disobedience the most interesting, it seems Thoreau was a libertarian.

I have read Walden so many times I have lost count starting at age 12 and now At 46 I just listened to it for first time on Kindle, each time I learn something new. Some say Thoreau was mentally ill, I read this book and I learn so much about how to live that I wonder is mentally ill a bad thing then because Thoreau is one of the greatest Spiritual Teachers ever and people tend to miss the point of this book. I have actually done a shorter version of Thoreau's experiment at Walden Pond, just to see if I was correct after at least 10 reads of this book, and I have visited Walden many times. I have taken many a nature trip to perform these experiments for myself, and to help teach Truth. Most people don't even know that Thoreau discovered Quantum Physics in this Novel, the lessons for life that if we all learned to live by would create a Truly peaceful planet but I have yet to find a person who has actually read this book in my lifetime, I don't mean flipped the pages and looked at the words, to receive the message one must actually do the experiment, nature is everywhere, sit in silent meditation after before and after you read each chapter or as I have each paragraph, I hope more people will learn what Thoreau and so many others have been trying so hard to teach us all. What do we really need? hint, It's not money :) and it's free and It is in All Of Creation no matter what your spiritual path or beliefs, There is only one True need, Rakhma (Ancient Galilean Aramaic-The Language Jesus Christ Spoke). Best Wishes Peace on Your journey, Namaste

Walden was written in 1854 by HD Thoreau while he lived in the cabin he'd built by himself, in the woods, near the lake Walden. in the first part , a sharp critique of modern society and civilization and all that it encompasses : Anything goes , fashion ( clothing) , housing ( cover ) , the architecture , communication , transportation , education , culture, work: "who made them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres, when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt? Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born?"... In the second part , he let us know his experience of exile from the society, how he built his own cabin, his observations around the lake , seasons, wildlife, noise , culture, reading .. . His philosophy penetrates us from the first pages about human living, luxury , freedom, spirituality... An author who deserves to be better known in France and at least in high school I think.

A great piece of writing. Great to see people in the past weren't afraid to be honest about some of the things that really sucked about living then. All up a really charming take on life in general.

La verdad es que lo he comprado pensando que era gratis, porque aseguraría que en su momento estas ediciones lo fueron. Cuidado con la "compra en 1-click". Dicho esto, por una vez merece la pena el esfuerzo de leer la obra en el inglés original, aunque en mi edición española aparece un maravilloso prólogo de Henry Miller que se echa en falta aquí. Tampoco hay notas ni índice, si bien aparece a cambio, a modo de epílogo, su artículo sobre desobediencia civil. Los médicos recomiendan al enfermo un cambio de aires y de escenario. El autor de esta obra, ya universal y atemporal, se lo tomó al pie de la letra: decidió pasar un tiempo en los bosques de Walden, al tiempo que reflejaba por escrito sus quehaceres diarios, reunidos aquí. Un fragmento traducido: "Se dice que Mirabeau se hizo salteador de caminos «para comprobar qué grado de resolución era necesario para ponerse en oposición directa a las leyes más sagradas de la sociedad». Declaró que «el soldado que lucha en el frente no requiere la mitad del valor del bandolero», «que el honor y la religión jamás han interferido en una resolución tomada y firme». Eso era viril a tenor de lo que se lleva; y sin embargo, era también vano, si no desesperado. Un hombre más cuerdo se habría encontrado más de una vez «en oposición formal» a lo que se considera «las leyes más sagradas de la sociedad» por avenencia a otras, más sacras aún, y así, habría comprobado su resolución sin salirse de su camino. No es propio que el hombre adopte tal actitud frente a la sociedad, sino que mantenga y temple aquella que es conforme a las leyes de su ser, las cuales jamás serán opuestas a las de un gobierno justo, si por ventura diere alguna vez con tal." Hay escritores que aseguran escribir siempre el mismo libro; compruebo que me reconcilio con la humanidad merced siempre al mismo personaje: el Robinson Crusoe de Daniel Defoe, el Atticus Finch de Harper Lee, el Jeremiah Johnson de Sidney Polack, el Dersú Uzalá de Akira Kurosawa, el Henry David Thoreau de Henry David Thoreau. Sí, el Thoreau, el individuo sin intermediarios, en primera persona, detallista, minucioso, profundo, quizá por eso el que alcanza la esencia humana, a mi parecer, en su forma más perfecta.

An interesting read. Relevant for all time.

This book is something one has to read once in a life if you’d ask me. The way Thoreau sees things maybe changes your way of thinking in a very positive way. Love it and it’s one of the 3 books I read several times!