Walden

By Henry David Thoreau and Redhouse

Walden (also known as Life in the Woods) by Henry David Thoreau is one of the best-known non-fiction books written by an American. Published in 1854, it details Thoreau's life for two years and two months in second-growth forest around the shores of Walden Pond, not far from his friends and family in Concord, Massachusetts. Walden was written so that the stay appears to be a year, with expressed seasonal divisions. Thoreau called it an experiment in simple living.

Walden is neither a novel nor a true autobiography, but a social critique of the Western World, with each chapter heralding some aspect of humanity that needed to be either renounced or praised. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, and manual for self reliance. (from Wikipedia)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Redhouse
• Release date: Mar 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9782378078737

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was born in 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts. He spent time as a school teacher after attending Harvard College but was dismissed for his refusal to administer corporal punishment. In 1845, wanting to write his first book, he moved to Walden Pond and built his cabin on land owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was during his time at Walden that Thoreau was imprisoned briefly for not paying taxes; this experience became the basis for his well-known essay "Civil Disobedience." He died of tuberculosis in 1862 at the age of 44.

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Reviews for Walden

[therebelprince · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Devastatingly wonderful. I had read parts of this at uni, of course, but never the whole work. I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, or perhaps many, but it is the heart of a movement which I hold very dear.

[diana_long_thomas · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Book received from Edelweiss.While this is the same Walden that has been in print forever, I really liked reading this re-print of it. The annotations in the book added to Thoreau's writing and helped me to understand some of the things he wrote about that have always slightly confused me.

[sissysue_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

With all the rave reviews I had read at the time, I thought this would be a good inspirational book to purchase.....wrong! As far as I'm concerned it was a huge waste of time and money.

[judygibson-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A hat trick in my 2016 reading challenge: my goal is to read so many books, some nonfiction, and some classics. This is all three.

I enjoyed the lyrical descriptive passages but confess I was often bewildered by Thoreau's plunges into metaphor, and could have done without them. It was fun to be challenged by the nearly 200-year old vocabulary which, as often as not, defeated my Nook's built-in collegiate dictionary as well.

[jigarpatel-6 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The first chapter, Economy, is mildly interesting and I enjoyed it in a haze of self-congratulatory glee. From then onwards, Thoreau's urge to preach via forced metaphors becomes increasingly tiresome. Half way through I gave up and skipped to Conclusion.

[obtusata · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Admittedly, I pretty much gave up on this after the first (very lengthy) chapter. I stopped focusing on it and eventually just skipped to the last chapter. It was an audiobook version, and I think part of the problem was the reader (slow, too many annoying and un-needed pauses, almost breathy - just bad to listen to). But, I've read about the book and the importance of the book many times, so I decided that I knew enough and that it was ok to call it quits.

[bkinetic_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thoreau chose to live deliberately and to observe life from a fresh perspective, as though no one had ever done so before. The result was a high quality of intimate thought, written for both the reader's challenge and enjoyment. In order to get the most from Walden, it is necessary to slow down and read deliberately. Thoreau carefully studied varied aspects of the natural world, reminding us how interesting everything is and how each moment of our lives can be full of discovery and wonder.

[harmoniumradio · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Excellent but Thoreau is a grouch

[denverbook · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great contemplative book, I would consider this a fine example of a self help book for those who want to take a step back from the hustle of modern America.

[booksandwine · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I felt this book was decent, but I'm not much of a nature person, so I had a hard time getting through certain parts. I think Thoreau has interesting ideas. I would definately have gotten more out of this book, had I read it for a class and had a discussion group. I'm not mature enough intellectually to really "get" this book. That or because it's after midnight, my inner-philosopher is asleep.

[angelic55blonde · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is absolutely a classic but I still found it somewhat boring to read. But I'm glad I did because it is a good book overall, even if I did find it a little dry from time to time.

[soireb · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Read this for an Major American Literature class.

[mikemonkey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really did like this book. Thoreau's way of describing his solitude and the nature around him those two years is a poetical and philosophical masterpiece. The book must be read in a slow pace, but if you do that you will really feel as though you are there in the woods with Thoreau.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my all-time favorites that I have revisited many, many times.

[jimocracy · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

pretentious drivel

[john5918 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A classic and inspiring book about living a simple life.

[jcozart-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Love this book. Over the years I have read and re-read this book numerous times. This book is what inspired author Anne LaBastille's lifestyle and her Woodswoman series. It has been the foundation work for the ecology movement for many years.

[heidilove_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

To read this when one is a teenager is ideal. After that, it's pretty easy to start looking at the transcendentalists and saying "but if we all did that, what would get done?"

[steve38 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Easy to see why this book is such an integral part of history and culture in the USA. A celebration of individualism and self-reliance. It's a pity that some Americans don't recognise that the world has changed since the book was written so it doesn't provide the guide to the good life that it once did.

[lrquinn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Here's a timeless treasure to be revisited time and again. I always find something new in this book. It is very thought-provoking and inspirational.

[bale_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Love this book! Have read, reread and referred to Thoreau since I was 20 years old. I still carry around an excerpt from this book in my wallet. Thoreau, Emerson, Walt Whitman and Plato have always been a big part of my life. I can go a few years without looking at any, only to return and devour again and again. Just reminiscing.

[almirr_33 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reading Walden makes you live only the present time. It's as dough you were at the lake's shore, seated, contemplating its vastness trough Thoreau's eyes.

[nazgul7sp · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The whole book reads like a journal of Thoreau's life in the woods. At some points it becomes very detailed and specific on the topic which he's talking about (fish, topography, plants, etc...) but it is worth reading through just to get to some of the best of his insights.

[nmele_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I first read this, in high school, I underlined a few epigrammatic quotes that summed up for me then all the wisdom of the world. Now I appreciate the small details of life in a semi-rural area: birds, the changing seasons, chopping wood, etc.

[kendrarenee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

there were about 60 boring pages between 170 and 230, but before and after that, I just kept underlining like mad and saying to myself, "yes! yes!" because I resonated with almost everything Thoreau had to say. One of the few books without a plot that I was able to finish from beginning to end. Loved it.

[thebookmagpie · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I got 100 pages in and wanted to stick my head in a vat of boiling water. I HATED this book. I really hated it. How can one man talk so much shite about absolutely nothing? It honestly made me want to set things on fire. Who cares?! Who care about anything this man has to say? He doesn't care what anyone else has to say, so why listen to him? ARGH.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In al zijn onvolkomenheid toch een werk dat je niet loslaat. Thoreau wilde niet zozeer weg van de beschaving, hij deed wel een spirituele zoektocht naar zichzelf, met innige contact via de natuur. De zwakheid van het werk is dat het eerder een compilatiewerk is, er is geen coherent grondplan, en soms onmogelijke metaforen. Desondanks intrigerend.