On Walden Pond Henry David Thoreau: Walden Henry Thoreau

by Henry David Thoreau

Genres: Classics, Nonfiction, Social Commentary

Paperback

Published August 9, 1854

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

[Bruce Cashbaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the fourth time I've read this book, beginning, I believe, in 11th or 12th grade. I found it quite interesting to compare those portions I've underlined through all of those reads. My copy is a paperback, published in 1960, with a cover price of 50¢.

Took me over 3 months to read, as I read 20 minutes per day, 5 to 6 days each week, as a part of a program of physical and mental exercise.

[Missy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s just nothing better.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I remember it, this was the book that pushed down the path that I've travelled (isolated, self-sufficiency) that I have tried to travel over the last 50 years or so. Re-reading it, I can see how the idle ruminations about the elements of the immediate environment around Walden Pond could serve as a catalyst for my travels, but...... This is 175 years old now and I found the style of writing to be very obtuse (references to Greek and Roman philosophers, antiquated words) and, frankly, just not very readable. I was glad to have come upon this book when I did and recognize the ideas that are very much a part of me. On the other hand, I found the reasoning in On The Duty of Civil Disobedience to be especially pertinent given the current political environment in this country.

[Lilja Lamkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoreau writes about his time on Walden Pond during which he is enjoying the simplicity of life, writing and thinking and just generally observing the world around him. The book really encourages you to think about what you need for a happy life vs what a materialistic society tells you to need. It’s structured as essays (though they all flow together), it’s not something you want to breeze through quickly. I encourage people to read it at least once and sort of just meander through at your own pace!

[natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m going to build a shack and live out of it

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

yapping but was yummy!

[Lenny DellaRocca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this in my teens. Remember only a bit of it

[Jeff Probst · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite book, for its directness, honesty and simplicity.

[Vinnie Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nature at its best. The most famous pond known to man.