Thoughts from Walden Pond

by Henry David Thoreau, Charles Gurche (Photographer), Dona Budd

Henry David Thoreau (American, 1817 -- 1862) extracted himself from the routines of employment and civilized sociability to spend two years in the woods. Walden, Thoreau's book about his experience published in 1854, has become one of the most highly respected works in American literature.In Thoughts from Walden Pond, Charles Gurche's brilliant photographs from the diverse regions of America are paired with excerpts from Thoreau's masterpiece. The pictures with the text transport us to a state of heightened awareness and impart an almost cellular sense of the importance of wild places. Dona Budd's introductory essay offers an engrossing biography of Thoreau along with her insightful reflections on Walden.

Genres: Classics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Biography, Essays, Nature, Classic Literature

96 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

About the author

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, philosopher, and abolitionist who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.

Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism.

In 1817, Henry David Thoreau was born in Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1837, taught briefly, then turned to writing and lecturing. Becoming a Transcendentalist and good friend of Emerson, Thoreau lived the life of simplicity he advocated in his writings. His two-year experience in a hut in Walden, on land owned by Emerson, resulted in the classic, Walden: Life in the Woods (1854). During his sojourn there, Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican war, for which he was jailed overnight. His activist convictions were expressed in the groundbreaking On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849). In a diary he noted his disapproval of attempts to convert the Algonquins "from their own superstitions to new ones." In a journal he noted dryly that it is appropriate for a church to be the ugliest building in a village, "because it is the one in which human nature stoops to the lowest and is the most disgraced." (Cited by James A. Haught in 2000 Years of Disbelief.) When Parker Pillsbury sought to talk about religion with Thoreau as he was dying from tuberculosis, Thoreau replied: "One world at a time."

Thoreau's philosophy of nonviolent resistance influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. D. 1862.

More: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/tho...

http://thoreau.eserver.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Da...

http://transcendentalism-legacy.tamu....

http://www.biography.com/people/henry...

Reviews

[Kathy Mathey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoreau was my father's favorite author, but as a teen / young adult I could never figure out why. I'd read excerpts from HDT's most famous works and try like crazy to find his message or as my dad called it ~ the universal truth ~ so that we could find some way to connect. It took me awhile, Dad, but I get it now. Love and miss you.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

We are reading excerpts from this book in American Literature. The first thing that I learned is that Thoreau was not a poet, he's an essayist. His idea of living in a cabin by the side of a pond sounds heavenly to me, especially in this chaotic period in my life. This is an easy, yet poignant read.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Thoreau can seem a bit pretentious about his successes 'living off the grid', this is a great book to remove oneself from the excesses of contemporary life. For example, on the topic of fashionable, but impractical clothing... "yet I am sure that there is greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to have a sound conscience. [...] I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes."

This book reveals how a simpler life is in fact richer in quality than a life filled with irrational social obligations, meaningless excess in material possessions, and soul-deprecating work. The arguments made are so incredibly refreshing, rational, and timeless as to inspire a more sensible, free lifestyle.

[Riannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, Thoreau's philosophies for the most part seem rather dumb and pretentious to me. I know he's famous and all, but I've never been that big on Transcendentalism to begin with, and it seems like Thoreau just took some of Emerson's ideas and ran away with them till they reached the point of being ridiculous. There is also a bit of hypocrisy involved. I mean, he's opposed to philanthropy because people can supposedly handle everything they need by themselves right? Then why does he borrow nearly everything he needs to live on his own from friends? I could point out a dozen other logical inconsistencies in his ideas, but for now I'll just say he annoys me and leave it at that.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love many of the theories that Thoreau presents in this novel, which I consider to be his best. I had an amazing experience reading this for the first time as I backpacked through Coyote Gulch in Southern Utah with my literature class. Literature is so much more powerful to me when it is read outdoors.

[Artmajorese · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm about half-way through, but I'm going to give up. It's just not worth my time to slog through another classic I don't like. If you want to read pretentious journals from an archaic age, this book is for you. Otherwise, go read My Side of the Mountain or something fictitious and delicious that will make you care more about the world.

[Nicole L · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was slow at times, but it was really interesting to see all that he learned. I worked on applying it to now, and I think Thoreau discovered some eternal concepts. Even though it was a bit on the boring side, it was very informative and interesting to interpret.

[Mary Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

"some of you, we all know, are poor, find it hard to live, are sometimes, as it were, gasping for breath. I have no doubt that some of you who read this book are unable to pay for all the dinners which you have actually eaten, or for the coats and shoes which are fast wearing or are already worn out, and have come to this page to spend borrowed or stolen time, robbing your creditors of an hour. It is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live" (Thoreau, pg. 11)
Even Thoreau doesn't want you to read this book.

[Dog Jacob · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate this book

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I go back to this book often, expecially when I feel like I'm "walking to the beat of my own drum" and nobody gets me. It always feels fresh to me and I love his way with the turn of a phrase. My favourite quote is, "If you ahve built your castles in the air, that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

[Susan Clark-cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of several books that really shaped my thinking as a young girl. I loved it. Read it over and over quoted it whenever I could. (blushing-I still do) So it was a real pleasure to revisit. Still has some of the most potent advice/thinking I have ever come across.

[Anna Mcallister · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is like soul-candy. Is that a creepy phrase? I could read this book again and again.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

He's been talking about "going green" for years.

[Mark Donovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a bit torn on my opinion of this book. There were sections where I was completely board to tears.
There are parts where I didn't agree with his arguments. However, it is so well written. How amazing his ability is to describe the mundane with such details. It is clearly inspiring. To the point it makes you want to go out and see more of nature. Or maybe spend some time in isolation. It also rekindled my fears that we are doing a poor job conserving the environment. A google search of Walden pond, and you can see the reviews, too noisy, too close to the highway.

It would be completely untenable for everyone to just live out in the wilderness. Living in societies is a good thing, it allows people to specialize, so we can all work less. I wonder how Thoreau would frame his arguments if he could have predicted how much technology has changed and bettered the lives of everyone. Cheap clothes, abundance of food. Maybe he'd still judge me for sitting in an office all day, just like he judges the labours who "work so they can afford to work".

I liked how he resorts to experiments to try to understand nature Eg. the depth of the lake. It allows you do imagine what it was like back in the early 1800s when even educated people didn't know about plate tectonics, geological time, the benefits of satellite imagery.

[Sabrina L · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reveals how a simpler life is in fact richer in quality than a life filled with irrational social obligations, meaningless excess in material possessions, and soul-deprecating work. The arguments made are so incredibly refreshing, rational, and timeless as to inspire a more focuses and less cluttered life. Zen-like really.

This is a great book to remove oneself from the excesses of contemporary life. For example, on the topic of fashionable, but impractical clothing: "yet I am sure that there is greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to have a sound conscience. ... I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes."

[Chris Joanis · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a pretentious prick. If you want to eat raw squirrel, go ahead and do it.
If this had been pitched as, like, just a diary of a kinda-poor snob chilling in the woods at someone else's backyard, I would have been okay with it.
It was pitched as some transcendentalist legendary work that would enlighten me. I could have laughed and identified with Thoreau instead of being resentful the whole time. This is nothing special, though it may put words to ideas that outdoorsy/naturey people feel but cannot usually articulate.

[Georgia]

I read Walden's Pond maybe 25 years ago and recalled its gentle awareness of nature and criticism of material excess.
I was eager to revisit as a mature woman, however I found it both a bit tedious and obvious.
Admittedly, I read the audio version and was at a distraction wrought period of my own life.

[Lizzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems as though a lot of reviews for this book are intended for Walden, not Thoughts from Walden Pond. I would still be interested in reading Walden, I just wasn't able to appreciate some of the photo/excerpt combinations.

[NeP-C Ledesma · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I always reread because it puts things into perspective, even though I haven't tried doing as Thoreau did

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sense that I have met a new friend in Mr Thoreau and we will have many good times together in future.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lovely ambition and reflection on what to truly value in life but there is also an unconscious privilege which shines through and is never mentioned.

[Nate Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up "Walden" nearly seven years ago, as I like to read complex prose while on vacation. Since I started reading it during my time off, I've always continued the tradition. "Walden" is sufficiently dry and complex, which dissuaded me from finishing it over the course of four or five vacations, but finally, I've come to the end.

Thoreau is pithy, witty, and incisive at times, although these moments are infrequent and scattered throughout a book laden with strange musings on the motives or modus operandi of wildlife, which I frankly don't care about. There are calculations and ledgers explaining how he made a modest sum of $3 by living in the woods by himself, allowing him to proclaim his independence.

I believe this is one of the first nature appreciation books. As someone who has never read this type of book before, it confuses me why one would even begin with its tedious genesis. Maybe I don't understand why describing the hoots of a barn owl like nature playing harp on the ice of his famous Walden Pond is beautiful or worth reading, or perhaps it really isn't that beautiful or worth reading.

For any future reader, I have two suggestions. First, Google online or ask ChatGPT for the 20 most famous quotes from the book and their context. It's worth it. Thoreau truly does march to the beat of a different drummer, and his life is not frittered away by detail, though certainly, his prose can be. Second, pick up a synthesis of the book from your favorite high school English textbook. Understanding what he writes about is fascinating, especially considering that Thoreau writes on the eve of the Mexican-American War in a pre-Civil War America. The fact that many phrases are still recognizable in modern English shows how stable the language has been over the years.

While I would absolutely recommend doing these two things, I would not recommend reading the entire book unless you too wish to fritter away your life in the details.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was able to see the importance of Walden at the time to Thoreau. His natural setting really helped bring out the themes he wanted to explain in this book: the importance of self-reliance, the value of simplicity, and the illusion of progress. He also uses some motifs that were very interesting: the seasonal cycle, poetry, ad imaginary people. I felt that taking the time to read this book helped me understand transcendentalism.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story...especially after reading omnivore...What really gets me about both of these books is that they seem to be proponents of regression to pre-industrial society, and thats kind of a messed up thing to think about. Would we really be better off without the industrial revolution? Would our land be cleaner, our lives more contemplative, over population problems less prevalent? I dont know, but with this news of a universal Flu vaccine, over population is a real possibility.

[Megan Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in college for a history class and I had to turn in a weekly journal of what I thought each week. I distinctly remember struggling through the entire book but the last chapter is one of the most beautiful pieces of writing I’ve ever read and it single handedly won me over. Five stars may seem extreme for loving one chapter but it was that memorable to me and any less seems inadequate to describe how moved I was by Walden Pond’s final words.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

In HS when I was required to read this, it would put me to sleep. This was even though I lived in Mass. and had a Uncle who had property with a pond and trails though the woods. It was just dry to me. Recently, 2005, my teenage son read this. He was board and I thought it was OK. So when I'm 90, I will probable love it.

[Stefanie B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I expected- a manifesto. Took a while to catch on to the language- but worth reading. Loved the nature language, got tired of the self-righteous description of his way of life- I gotta chop my own wood too.

[Keith Simmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book not so much for the story, language, or even the enjoyment of reading it, but for the philosophy Thoreau expounds and the effect it has had on my life (I quit at least one job after the first 20 pages).

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this in high school. I might have a different opinion if I re-read it....

[Leon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure if I actually read the whole book but from what I remember I liked the spirit of it. Man and nature. A little escape from technology is sometimes a good thing.