The Portable Thoreau

by Henry David Thoreau, Carl Bode (Editor)

Henry David Thoreau dedicated his life to preserving his freedom as a man and an artist. Nature was the fountainhead of his inspiration and his refuge from what he considered the follies of society. Heedless of his friends’ advice to live in a more orthodox manner, he determinedly pursued his own inner bent, which was that of a poet-philosopher, in prose and verse. Carl Bode brings together the best of Thoreau’s works in The Portable Thoreau, a comprehensive collection of the writings of a unique and profoundly influential American thinker.

Genres: Philosophy, Classics, Nonfiction, Poetry, Essays, American, Literature

698 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1947

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

[Jenna Los · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never read anything by Thoreau before this book. I had, of course, heard of him, but I never had the desire to read what I perceived would be a long, dull book about the woods. I love nature, but I love being in nature not (or so I thought) reading about it. That said, Thoreau pleasantly surprised me; I actually really enjoyed reading these selections. Walden isn’t merely hundreds of pages describing a flower or stream; Thoreau places a lot of philosophy in his work. He stresses individuality and discovering oneself by leaving the trappings of civilization and its material desires behind. I think he might even agree with me that you can’t be transformed by merely reading about Nature, but you have to actually go out and experience it for yourself.

One of my favorite pieces was "Walking". His idea of a walk is no doubt a far cry from what we think of walking as today: "If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them again – if you have paid your debts, and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man – then you are ready for a walk. (593)" Thoreau would not approve of walking while talking on cell phones or listening to iPods; this detracts from truly engaging in the world around you. Of course, many of us are too anxiety-ridden to relax enough for a stroll; we use the mp3 players to drown out our own thoughts on purpose since allowing them to take hold tends to be overwhelming. And I think this fear of free thinking is what Thoreau was afraid would happen to a materialistic society? That we would become so preoccupied with working and making money to earn the things we think we need that nothing is ever enough and work is never done, that our workday follows us home and fogs our thoughts that we no longer see any of the world clearly.

Do yourself a favor and read Thoreau.

[Barrett Brassfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to agree with E.B. White (author of Charlotte's Web, among other things) who once said that every high school senior should be given a copy of Walden upon graduation. Many of course will choose not to read it but for those who do, and make it through the bit of a slog that is the first chapter, Thoreau's timeless classic offers much wisdom on thoughtful living. Why thoughtful living? Because Walden is full of what of what buddhists refer to as the fire of attention. Each chapter, even the first, Economy, is full of an intense attention to detail both philosophical and practical. Walden may have been written by a 19th century New Englander but it's implications travel far beyond that limited scope of time and space. At the very least, readers of Walden in any age will be encouraged to forgo the way of the lemming and instead give a little thought to each step taken in life, as opposed to just mindlessly stumbling off the proverbial cliff of life.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who’s spoken to me in the past two and a half years is likely to know this one thing about me: I am OBSESSED with Transcendentalism. And while this fascination has its original roots in Emerson’s essays and Whitman’s poetry, it was upon reading Thoreau that I really began to feel I found a kindred spirit.

Thoreau was one of the greatest thinkers to ever live, and as such it’s not really possible to do a goodreads-style review of his work, so that’s not something I’ll attempt. What can be reviewed, however, is the quality of this particular collection, and boy howdy is it good. At over 600 pages, I don’t think “portable” is the most apt descriptor, and yet I also don’t think this book could’ve been any shorter. Not only does it contain the full version of Walden and Resistance to Civil Government, but also some of Thoreau’s other landmark essays (Walking, Life Without Principle), and snippets of some of his less famous books. And all of this precluded by a beautiful introduction. The complete package makes for a work of art ready to initiate the uninitiated into this wonderful mind, and perhaps motivate those already familiar with Thoreau to dive a little deeper into his lesser-known works.

[v · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Portable Thoreau is possibly the best single-volume edition of Thoreau because it contains all of Walden and several important essays as well as selections from his poetry, journals, and four of his other books: A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, The Maine Woods, A Yankee in Canada, and Cape Cod.

Walden, of course, is a masterpiece of American literature and its contents range from the playful invective and instruction of the first chapter, "Economy," to deeply probing philosophy ("Why do precisely these objects which we behold make a world?" he asks in "Brute Neighbors") and personal reflection; it ends in the winter, as Thoreau's later works do, with scrupulous, mysterious, and plain examinations of his natural surroundings -- think, for example, of the lengthy discussions of the ice of Walden Pond or its depth.

Some, but not all, of this spirit accompanies Thoreau to Canada, Cape Cod, and Maine in the selections from his other books; one has the feeling he was itching to return home the whole time, and the stable fixity of Walden Pond seems to have provoked and contained his thoughts in a way that travel did not. A Week, however, deserves special mention precisely because of how uncontained his thinking and writing is as he reflects back on a river journey he took with his brother. I think his brother (who would tragically die shortly before Thoreau began writing the book) is an intriguing, silent, and holding figure here, and it is touching to see the book as a kind of memorial.

More touching still are selections from Thoreau's poetry and journals. These works, generally polished and mannered as they are, appear to depict Thoreau's most intimate sorrows, doubts, and pleasures in a way that his other works rarely do. If I return to Thoreau's works more fully any time sooner or later, it will be there due to delicate gems like this:

Each more melodious note I hear
Brings this reproach to me,
That I alone afford the ear,
Who would the music be.

Thoreau is celebrated as an essayist, and rightly so. Essays like "Walking" and "A Natural History of Massachusetts" are lively, detailed, and rhapsodic -- a looser, jauntier kind of Walden. The "political" Thoreau (who I am duly informed cannot be divorced from the naturalist or philosopher Thoreau) is more celebrated still on account of "Civil Disobedience." There are similar pieces like "Life Without Principle" and "The Last Days of John Brown." Thoreau's political ideas have a lot to commend them -- particularly the centrality, admirably American, of "minding one's own business." At the same time, I think he puts his foot in his mouth at every other step and says something stupid and grating, if not abhorrent (for example, he says in "Civil Disobedience" that revolutionary violence against the state is totally innocent and permissible because the state creates the conditions in which it arises -- "John Brown" goes even further). It is helpful to keep in mind how trapped, stifled, and even afraid Thoreau was in the jail on the night of his civil disobedience, and how that differs from the peace he found in his cabin at Walden Pond.

[Rebekah Byson · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the writings of Thoreau; 1 star for the Carl Bode 1947 edition. I've owned this book for several years and have read bits of Thoreau, but decided I would make an effort to read his writings fully and attentively. I started with Walden last fall, and picked this up again to work through the rest of his books and essays. Reading Thoreau is like mining for gold, which ironically was an occupation he had little respect for. A modern reader has to sift through the 19th century, pre-Civil War, sentiments that no longer ring true to a 21st century mind, and pull out the nuggets that are timeless. It is worth the effort. I will find myself reading and re-reading his words for the rest of my life. But first, I need to purchase a better collection. Carl Bode is one of those out-dated amateur psychoanalysts who find Freudian sexual syndromes everywhere he looks. His commentary about Thoreau's biography and writings seem off the mark. As soon as someone says "Freud" and "Oedipus" I immediately feel everything they say after that is wrong.

[Walter Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy really went in. A book this long that isn’t a biography is very interesting. I liked a lot of his writings though. From Civil Disobedience to Walden to A Yankee in Canada and Cape Cod. “F*** the _____ from Wellfleet”. He’s very introspective of course and had no problem spending time alone. A true walker, this man loved nature and everything that came with it. I now know what a quadruped and a pickerel are. Also interesting to find out what a wigwam was and how Americans viewed indigenous people in the mid 19th century. His perspective on America and the government was cool because he was not aligned with what was going on. Interesting to think about him writing these feelings while America was still less than 100 years old. Thank you Xtian for getting me this book! Meant2be

[M Soltis · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most approachable and revelatory essays by Mr. Thoreau. I love rereading this essay in the spring. It clears the winter cobwebs out of my head!

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Favorite sections include "Sounds" "Solitude" and Brute Neighbors (all from Walden. The conclusion is great too), as well as Civil Disobedience, and A Winter Walk

Anarchist, Naturalist, Individualist. A gem.

[Chris brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Civil Disobedience
I just finished reading this wonderful work of American political though and history. Like all these old works that helped shape this country and laid the foundation of what it should be, these few pages are far beyond epic. He makes his contempt for the clearly hypocritical institutions of slavery, the Mexican American war and the eventual annexing of Texas, political corruption, taxation, revolution, as well as some political ideology that was and still is staining the fabric American society and culture well known.

“But , to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves non-government men, I ask for not at once no government but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step towards obtaining it.”

This speaks far beyond going out and voting, but actually getting involved in the system that says that it holds your best interests at its core and holding that system accountable to this statute. Letting officials know that the state and government is in place to work for the citizen not the citizen is in place to support the state. This was something that Thoreau foresaw and I believe as we are now, in one of the times in history where the common American thought as well as the common American politician believes their work is far beyond the capacity of the average citizen to understand, and would never acknowledge that the common American citizen is their work.

Early on he recognized and pointed out the corruption that was, and still, in the hearts of some elected officials, and the morality of and in revolution which this country was founded on,

“All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.”

If you’re looking for a book that was foundational in its day and still as revolutionary a hundred and seventy something years later, pick this up and give it a read. If you are a Thoreau reader this is somewhat a divergence away from the birds and the trees but wonderful nonetheless.

My Review of Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Every so often, I come across a book that not only causes me to examine my most steadfast beliefs but also resonates with them, as if the book was a tuning fork struck against my soul. Walden by Henry David Thoreau is one such book. Calling it a mere book I feel, is doing it an injustice. What these letters, these syllables, and words form in their entirety is, to me, one of the great literary works of art. Walden by Henry David Thoreau is a work of the greatest, deepest philosophical proportions that any lover of wisdom would be doing him or herself a disservice by passing the opportunity to take the trip to the pond by. Walden by Henry David Thoreau, unlike other works of this magnitude, is also not written so as that it confounds understanding to those whom would read this as template to their own love ode of nature.

On the dust jacket or back of the book you might find something equivalent to saying that Walden is the two year, two month, two day, (and knowing Thoreau two hour) chronicles of a man that built a home and lived by a pond that gives title to the book. It might also express his declaration of discontent of what was then modern man; his society that he felt lacked its right to claim civility, and his technology. This is all very much true but like Thoreau, there was more, much more than those opening words and simplified thoughts laying on the surface can explain.

What resides in these pages are, what was then, a new philosophical view that respected nature. It explained that nature was more than something to be tamed and or bent to the will of man and called for recognition of its sovereignty. In Walden Thoreau also asserted that to call one’s self a man, a civilized man, one must not behave as the beasts of nature.

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city, you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”

Henry David Thoreau
Walden
The first chapter, Economy, the longest single piece of work in the book, outlines why he embarked on this mission. From early on, it reads as if a semi-edited stream of consciousness that expresses a yearning to simplify one’s life and rid oneself of the rigors that social life and a proper standing in high society of New England demanded.

“Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”


Henry David Thoreau
Walden

He expresses his contempt for the high esteeming attitude, which still prevails today, people had and have for fashion, homes, and miss appropriated civic pride and calls all that read to come to an epiphany of what is true and what actually is necessary in life. He also does not shy away from telling and expressing his faith. He also does not hold a close mind in that believing he can only learn from faith solely but expresses how all of nature is part of creation and there by his learning is only heighten, not hindered by experiencing and being a part of nature. This being a part of nature he also felt and expressed that civilized man was again retreating from too rabidly.

“Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life? We are determined to be starved before we are hungry.”

Henry David Thoreau
Walden

I pause here to say that the chapter entitled Reading will forever hold a special place in my heart because of this quote here,

“A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something as once more intimate with us and more universal that any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be actually breathed from all human lips; not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself.”

Henry David Thoreau
Walden

If you read Walden for nothing else, I say read enough to get to this point. Read until you have arrived to this statement so you can fully appreciate the profoundness and beauty of what had been written, what your eyes just had the privilege to have read. Anyone that writes, anyone that sings, anyone that appreciates literature, poetry, and song for the art that it is understands the wonder that was expressed by such an uncomplicated and deeply insightful statement. One other statement that truly reveals how this man born in 1817 and this work written in 1854 was far ahead of its time, reaching into our own some one hundred and fifty four years later, but also shows how far we have not gone in the those one hundred and fifty four years.

“Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war. We meet at the post office, and at the sociable, and about the fireside every night; we live thick and are in each other’s way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty communications.”

Henry David Thoreau
Walden


Clearly Thoreau touched on points that we still speak about today, if not it is probably worse today. We do not sit down with friends or family today for even one meal yet we hold strict contempt for strangers that disobey the rules of etiquette and politeness. I once saw a woman curse another woman out because she did not hold the door open for her as they were walking in the store, but the woman that walked in the store in front of the other woman did not even see or know another person was behind her so why would she hold the door open. If we change the post office to starbucks or some fast-food place for lunch and the fire side to tv or computer and we have relevant commentary about today.

This is where my love affair with Walden ends. If you are reading this work for its philosophical merit alone then I will say upon approaching the chapter The bean field skip to the conclusion. The remainder of the book is just details and true odes to birds, fishing, the pond, and other natural aspects that have worth but reading all of them becomes very monotonous. Read this book for its philosophical worth. Read this book for its historical value and being one of the early roots of environmentalism and naturalism in America. Read this book and ponder.

“Shall we always study to obtain more of these of these things, and not sometimes to be content with less?

Henry David Thoreau
Walden

[Hans Wiegand · Rating 3 out of 5]

“It is a country full of evergreen trees, of mossy silver birches and watery maples, the ground dotted with insipid, small, red berries, and strewn with damp and moss-grown rocks, -a country diversified with innumerable lakes and rapid streams, peopled with trout and various species of leucisci, with salmon, shad, and pickerel, and other fishes; the forest resounding at rare intervals with the note of the chickadee, the blue jay, and the woodpecker, the scream of the fish hawk and the eagle, the laugh of the loon, and the whistle of ducks along the solitary streams; at night, with the hooting of owls and howling of wolves; in summer, swarming with myriads of black flies and mosquitoes, more formidable than wolves to the white man. Such is the home of the moose, the bear, the caribou, the wolf, the beaver, and the Indian. Who shall describe the inexpress-ible tenderness and immortal life of the grim forest, where Nature, though it be midwinter, is ever in her spring, where the moss-grown and decaying trees are not old, but seem to enjoy a perpetual youth; and blissful, innocent Nature, like a serene infant, is too happy to make a noise, except by a few tinkling, lisping birds and trickling rills? What a place to live, what a place to die and be buried in!”
(from Ktaad)

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a complete collection of Thoreau's writings, but it does include Walden as well as many of his poems, selections from his journal, and his essay on walking.

I loved reading this. But I can't recommend it to the casual reader. The language is antiquated, verbose, meandering, and slow. It's also just under 700 pages. But if you're up for walking through Thoreau's mind, it's lovely. I read it as part of a personal creative project which made the process even more fun. For a few years I've been wanting to write scenarios where Thoreau and other like-minded people have various conversations. So I made a lot of notes in the margins about who Thoreau might discuss certain principles with. That sounds deadly boring, I know. But making notes and comparisons as I read made reading this far more enjoyable that it probably deserves to be. I think if I were to read it straight through just to say I'd read Walden, I'd never make it.

READ IT IF: You really want to get into Thoreau. Otherwise, you probably got the basics in your English lit class.

[Norris Ngaliga · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t been too acquainted with classic American literature and Thoreau was one of my first dives into this world. I’m left with an abiding sense of reverence and respect for the perspective of living and experiencing he manages to conjure within this anthology. Notably impressive are the essays Civil Disobedience and The last days of John Brown as well as the pivotal Walden and other lesser known works like Walking and Life without principle also serve up the rear end of the book in strong form.

As a person who’s held very nihilistic outlooks on a lot of topics for a long time, this book was like a palette cleanser. I saw life from the eyes of a man who lived it by his own terms and through noble ideals that yet didn’t leave me intellectually stifled or wanting. I got from this more than I expected to and I think I’ll keep these ideas with me for the better part of my relatively disaffected youth.

[Maru Galactica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Thoreau le gusta mucho la naturaleza y básicamente nos lo hace saber con MUCHO detalle en cada uno de sus escritos. Tiene unas rants bastante libertarias pero interesantes porque su argumento para no pagar impuestos es antiesclavista, a diferencia de los libertarios modernos. Tiene una prosa hermosísima pero predica un estilo de vida bastante aburrido (acaso me estoy autodescubriendo como un alma decadente? Puede ser) y la verdad tampoco me interesaba aprender con tanta exhaustividad sobre la flora y fauna de Connecticut. Le doy tres marus porque me gusta mucho aprender palabras raras pero la verdad 2/4 del libro se pueden graficar con el meme de Schwarzenegger rodeado de animalitos en el bosque. Also, Walden como libro fundacional estadounidense para que los chicos lean en el secundario? Aguante el Martín Fierro.

[PatC · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won't add another review, just quote a favorite sentence, from "Resistance to Civil Government":

"They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humanity; but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins once more, and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountainhead."

You could almost randomly open your copy of the book and stick your finger on a sentence, and you'd find some thought worth contemplating, for an hour or a day or longer.

[Superfluous_Flan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This served a two fold purpose for me, both a collection of work to form my own ideas off as well as entertainment. For entertainment the personality & interests of Thoreau being somewhat similar to my own proved to make this a great read. In terms of opinions, the outdated context of some of them means that a pick and choose strategy serves best, all the same there is much to be said in this capacity Something different to what I have read before but a dive into a massively interesting world that has changed how I think.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh my gosh, I finished it. Finally. Definitely not the kind of book that you can’t put down, but a good one all the same. I love Thoreau’s imagery and descriptions, all the naturalism is wonderfully soothing and relaxing at night (which is when I read this). I skipped ‘Civil Disobedience’ because it was so political and I couldn’t stand it, but I loved most everything else, Natural History of Massachusetts and Walden especially.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5

I appreciate everything Thoreau has done in terms of expanding American knowledge about nature and conservation. In his time, I completely recognize and acknowledge his influence. His writing today is pretty dry to get through, but he has some interesting ideas on how to live an ideal life outside of societal expectations

[Andrew Noselli · Rating 3 out of 5]

If one considers the Romantic poets the discoverers of the mind, it seems the New England Transcendentalists, Emerson and Thoreau among them, were foremost in terms of mapping its cartography. Although I mostly skimmed Walden, I really and truly enjoyed it and it sent me back to the boy-scout adventures of hiking up the mountains behind Michael McGovern's house in Tomkins Cove, NY. Three stars.

[Jud Tabor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of that which is most splendid, Thoreau’s biblical and heavenly fondness of nature transcends the pages and pulls at the heart of any romantic who longs to also find himself in a cabin in the woods, unswayed and unbothered by the toils of the modern world. If more thought as my friend Henry did, the world would be a vastly more stunning and gorgeous place.

[Emily Philbin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think rereading Thoreau as an adult was certainly worth it, as I found so much more meaning in it and connected to it on a completely different level. I would definitely recommend people revisit his texts.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I know of in which to begin your journey with Thoreau. Excellent selections by Jeffrey Cramer — with every Thoreau selection receiving an introduction by Cramer. This improves your understanding and enjoyment of the writings. All of Walden is here, too.

[Murat Aydogdu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will go back to this, again and again, to read and rereads bits and pieces, especially Walden, and especially when I am feeling aggressively consumer-y.

[PsychoClaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of Henry David’s Thoreau’s most important work.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

not an easy read but worth it,

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

The old I get the more I appreciate Thoreau and the transcendentalists. This book is a packaging of Thoreau’s writings. Well done and something to carry in your backpack.

[Shannon Adams plechas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent notes with this edition.
Read this as part of a professional development in Concord.

[Bill Staley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walden was slow going. I did not find the brilliant insights that I was expecting.

[Jose Luis]

September 2021 - Civil Disobedience
Thoreau understands the faults of American democracy. He expresses a deep concern for Truth while upholding the freedom of the individual. But continuing along the thread of Walden, Thoreau does not promote relativism per se. He definitely believes in objective Truth.

This is where the reader is caught off guard, and where the real essence of the American question lies. It is the great question of American democracy: on principle, neither a majority nor an individual can define Truth, yet we live in a system that acts as of it does. Where does this leave the minority? It cannot be expected to simply play along at the expense of Truth. Selling out, philosophically and morally, is not an option if one is to live deliberately.

At the end of the day, a democracy without a populace that strives to be philosopher-kings that are done with accumulating material wealth is useless.

This read is so relevant. It should be required in schools and universities, but I can see why it's not. It makes one rather uncomfortable. It's pretty non-partisan because it's basically an anarchist text. Thoreau's voice is so clear and crisp and consistent. What an oddball, though. Probably my favorite American historical figure.

I would read Walden before "Civil Disobedience" because you will more holistically understand Thoreau's perspective. "Civil Disobedience" is meant to be polemical, but it is less in-your-face with more of Thoreau's world-view and philosophy under your belt.

Summer 2020 - Walden
Thoreau put his life and soul into Walden. It was his highest dream in life to be a philosopher poet, so half of this book is essentially thoughtful poetry disguised as prose. If you go in knowing this, then the bulk of Walden makes a lot more sense. After the first two chapters, Thoreau roughly follows a structure of first poetically describing something (sound, the village, Walden Pond, etc) and then inserting some philosophical conclusion about it. For Thoreau this is only logical. He sees Nature as the source of all wisdom. Any philosophical conclusion must reflect his observation and experience of the natural order. He's essentially trying to glean a natural law from Nature.

Most compelling to me were his ideas around poverty, which are arguably the bottom-line of Walden.Thoreau ardently believes that America of all places is the best place to free oneself of spiritual poverty (which simultaneously requires a departure from the human obsession with wealth and economic equality). But he also realizes that material wealth is so prized and enshrined, firstly, by the rich, and, secondly, by the poor who want to be rich, that all goes on in helpless darkness for generations (See end of Baker Farm). We are entrenched in a vicious cycle of wealth seeking and spiritual poverty. We shouldn't mind being poor, Thoreau says. It makes us rich.

Thoreau can be pretentious and harsh in this book, and he admits to it. But it is only because of his relentless passion for the pursuit of Truth. Thoreau urgently believes in living deliberately. There is no time to waste. A life spent seeking comfort and luxury and sensuality is a life wasted.

I am afraid of calling Walden a book about early environmentalism or ecology because I think that it downplays its role as a philosophical text. Thoreau's philosophy sees Nature as a source of wisdom and perfection. In Walden we do see the beginnings of a more systematic observation of nature, but it is not the overarching point for Thoreau in this work. I don't see why there's so much emphasis on this interpretation on YouTube and such... it feels like a lazy reading of an otherwise rich and unique American philosophical text. I'm more inclined to call this a critique of capitalism, although Thoreau is not a socialist by any means. There are some good critiques on mass media that could be extended to social media today, and there are even a couple beautifully patriotic moments in Walden for the close reader.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally started reading The Portable Thoreau a year after my first (and only so far) trip to Walden Pond. I'd gotten plenty of warnings to be careful of ticks (there are not ticks really where I live or grew up, and that one episode of "House, MD" has put me off ticks for the rest of my life), and a couple of other interns and I walked from the Concord train station all the way to Walden Pond. On our way there we saw people out in their gardens, a couple cars going by, and realizing that Thoreau really did not go out into too much wilderness when he was living at Walden Pond. However, reading Thoreau as a modern philosopher of self reliance makes me forgive him somewhat for his lack of going into serious wilderness (I think this is a strongly West Coast view of things).

Reading Thoreau for more than just "Civil Disobedience" and "Walden" reveals a certain amount of nature writing that appears to have invented the genre for Americans. This account of climbing to the top of Mount Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine, seemed to me to have all the elements of modern nature and outdoors writing, from the physical challenge of being outdoorsy to the consideration of nature and the natural world being witnessed. I found Thoreau's journals to be particularly interesting, giving a slightly less formal insight into Thoreau's thinking.

Overall, a very literary souvenir of a literary trip in the middle of July, experiencing early work of modern American naturalism.

[Christopher · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a very difficult book for me to read as there was too much going on. Thoreau had a wandering mind as well as body, and that comes out quite well in this collection of his works. Unfortunately, I don't like that sort of writing. It always felt like he was rambling and would never stick to one topic. While this is an admirable quality it is also frustrating. There were some interesting parts in this book. I particularly liked aspects of "Civil Disobedience," the chapter in Walden on reading was riveting, and his "Life Without Principles," had some interesting thoughts. And, too be fair, I read through this rather quickly. But, this is a book only for philosophers and Thoreau/Transcendentalist scholars. Average readers should stick with "Civil Disobedience" and Walden.