About this title: Thoreau's classic account of the solitary life, describing his attempts to simplify his life and sort out his priorities by living alone in a cabin beside Walden Pond for nearly two years, is one of the most influential books ever written. The bible of the environmental movement, WALDEN vividly portrays Thoreau's reverence for nature, and his understanding of the idea that nature is made up of crucially interrelated parts.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: SparkNotes, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9781586634452ISBN:1586634453
Description: Good. 1586634453 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in good condition, varying degrees of shelf wear, some spine creases, m...02507320 _ read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN-13:9780691014647ISBN:0691014647
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: SOME ] [ Writing: SOME ] [ Torn pages: NO ] [ Broken Seams: NO ] Publisher: Beacon Press Pub Date: 12/17/1997 Binding: Paperback Pages: 336. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"When I retired two and a half years ago, I started a reading program which I had designed, trying to read as many of the so-called “great or classic” books of the past few hundred years. I hate to admit defeat, but Thoreau’s “Walden” left me so bored I finally gave up and put it away. I found it to be the very uninteresting ramblings of an opinionated man. I have read a large number of period books in the past few years. That was the only book that I could not complete."
"This book is not worth the time it takes to read it. While Thoreau does make a few valuable points throughout the book, it's more than likely it'll be skimmed over in an attempt to skip over the fillers. Finding that decent point is comparable to finding a needle in a haystack, how ever cliche that may be. Most of the book is the thoughts of a less than spectacular man. Him deciding to live in the wilderness "away" from society. As you read this collections of Henry David Thoreau's thought, he emerges as an misanthrope. He dwells on the fact that humankind is misguided, yet he somehow believes the answer to that is to sulk in the woods, by himself.
Furthermore, Thoreau, himself, is a hypocrite. For at the end of his "experiment", he assimilates back into mainstream society. His whole trip was in vain, and the fact that he readily falls back into the mainstreams, make any valid points of his moot. Because if he really did feel so strongly that solitude and simplicity did the soul good, would he have really moved back? Or was claiming his experiment was over just his stubborn way of giving up?
In conclusion, I do not recommend this book. If one is determined to find the golden nuggets of inspiration in this book, I would recommend SparkNotes, because in the end, it's generally not worth the read. But if it is on a school list, I do suggest you read it, along with the SparkNotes. The SparkNotes will give you a better understanding of the book, but if you just read them you might miss random notes of crazy your teacher thought was important."
"I have to admit I'm a little shocked by how much my and Thoreau's philosophies do not align. I'm a big fan of Emersonian and Whitman(ian?) transcendentalism, and I figured Thoreau would be of the same ilk, having attempted to put Emerson's Self-Reliance rhetoric into practice. And although Walden is written very well, in fact it is witty and snide with pointed clever quips, it pretty much is a pretentious account of a two year sojourn by a man who is narrow in his scope of how life should be lived. Don't get me wrong, I've found some incredible quotes from the book:
"Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they are written."
"You can't kill time without hurting eternity."
"Heaven is under out feet as well as over our heads."
but the majority of the book is Thoreau's admonishing of lifestyles that are not his own. For example, Thoreau was a vegetarian who admited to eating meat and fish but claimed that anyone who would do so is poisoning themselves and not wise. Moreover, he claimed things like senses dull our human experience, claiming that all food should be bland and that those who drink coffee and wine are foolish. I understand people making personal life choices, but that does not mean someone else's choices make them foolish or weak. Thoreau is harsh in his treatment of others, concluding in a very inflamatory comment, claiming "how you and I, can live thsi slimy beastly life, eating and drinking." Wow.
Moreover, Thoreau goes into vivid detail about the nobility of his outdoor lifestyle, loves it so much, yet lives there a total of 2 whole years. Then he goes back to the city and society. Seems a bit hypocritical to me.
The majority of the book is filled with strange meanderings and descriptions of mundane things, which is why most of it is cut out in literature texts. Still, it's worth the read. The chapters Economy and Conclusion are where all the decent meat is."
"Why I Read this Book: I needed a call to action back to the simplicity and importance of life. Walden is it.
Review:
Simplicity should be a simple thing, don't you think? Sometimes I feel like so many of us get caught up in a wicked spiral of complexity in today's society. I unfortunately think this is especially the case for those of us really striving for success. Sometimes a reminder of life's wonderful simplicities is exaclty what we need. Henry David Thoreau takes us right back to the basics in Walden.
Somehow I went the first 25 years of my life without ever knowing of this incredible literary work. It was not until a few months ago when a well respected friend, and wonderful liver of life, recommended I read Walden, slowly. I have received plenty of book recommendations in the past but never before has someone recommended the pace at which I read. I took his advice and spent the summer doing just that. I was facing a big career transition and just about to leave for a trip to Dubai to see what some new parts of the world had to offer. What perfect timing. Since then I cannot list the number of successful mentors and authors of our time who have recommended Walden.
As we so often see, it is the presently popular pieces written generations back (in this case over a hundreds years ago) that really have the lasting and timeless impact on society. In the mid 1800's, Thoreau set off on a quest to get back to basics. And his journey took him to Walden Pond. There he spent a couple years living life as one would if they were not continuously acting upon the ever growing social pressures of life.
Thoreau went to Walden to focus on needs instead of society-generated desires. How about growing and eating just what our body needs (and really wants) to survive instead of filling our bodies with extra meat, fat and alcohol? Or maybe consuming and wearing clothes that first and foremost do what they were first intended to do; keep us warm and comfortable, as opposed to keeping up with what's hot in the shop windows? I know it's hard to imagine while we are wearing our newest Seven jeans but this is what he wanted to remind himself of out at Walden Pond. In these 150 odd pages, he simply tells us of his experiences and realizations of life and his surroundings. Be prepaired for details of the things that we usually take for granted and expect to spend some time with his experiences. They will likely make you do some thinking of your own.
Walden puts forth an invaluable message that resonates in every part of life. We should not live and judge the quality of our lives by the things that others have and say we should have. We should not judge our success based upon what those around us consider to be success. I have said it so many times. We are successful because we say we are, we believe are and feel we are. Not because anyone else tells us we are or aren't. Success is something only you can realize inside yourself. It is unfortunate that we get scrutinized for giving up that 'wonderful' corporate job to be a writer or a yoga teacher or maybe even a waiter. Maybe we love people. Maybe we want to better help others or better communicate with others. Who knows what the reason is. In fact no body really knows the reason except you, the one making the decision. We should all be encouraged to do exactly what we want to be doing and feel we are meant to do. You can bet that Thoreau received plenty of bad press for taking off to Walden Pond for those two years, but in exchange for some superficial and temporary popularity, what did he stand to gain? How about confidence and pride in doing what's most important to him? And gaining the ability to be present in a world that continues to try to think about ten things at once and fifty steps ahead? What would that be worth to you?
If Thoreau could see how much more intense our society has gotten today compared to when he retreated to Walden, I am not sure he would know what to think. And the pressures are only growing. Of course I am not telling you to skip town and go widdle sticks in the woods for a couple years. But how about just taking some time to yourself and writing down what's really important? Why do you feel you need to make this much money or have that job or wear these clothes? Is it because you truly value all these things or is it perhaps because you have been trained to think and feel this way? What pressure and stress do these misunderstood priorities have on you?
I took my trip to Walden a few years ago. It was in the form of living in Spain for 18 months and it has changed me ever since. I task you with the same exploration. Take Walden and a journal with you for a weekend or maybe even a fun longer trip to a new place with all new people. Consider doing it alone and try to take a trip back to simplicity. It's the kind of life therapy that would do us all well.
So enjoy the ride and when in doubt, try to take it slow and stay simple. There is no hurry but the one we put upon ourselves. Let me know what you learn.
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