About this Book

This is a book review of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. I just finished reading Walden and wanted to provide a little information about the copy I read. It is a paperback book consisting of 242 pages, excellent type and page quality. The book is 9 inches high and 6 inches wide and for me, this is just about the right size because the font is easy to read and large enough for those of us without perfect eyesight. This is the complete edition with original illustrations. For a paperback, it is very high quality with substantial paper quality and a nice cover. Amazon has many versions of this book, but this one is still available and was less than $10 last time I checked. It always amazes me that such a notable work of literature is so cheap. I guess it is all about supply and demand.

Summary

This review will be significantly longer than most of my book reviews. It took me several months to complete reading this book, due to some degree that this is not a fast read. I’ll go into why later in my recommendation. Walden is a combination of philosophy and nature study, or maybe the intersection of the two disciplines.

There are 18 chapters in this book with most of them covering the 2 years and 2 months that Henry David Thoreau lived in a small cabin from July 4, 1845 – September 6, 1847, that he built near the shores of Walden Pond close to Concord Massachusetts. In the first chapter Thoreau outlines his philosophy regarding how man spends their time on this earth and the ramifications of this work on their lives. In the very first chapter “Economy” he outlines his philosophy regarding the plight of the working man. I will quote passages from the book that stood out to me to provide some insights into his philosophy.

“I have traveled a good deal in Concord: and everywhere, in shops, and offices, and fields, the inhabitants have appeared to me to be doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways.” (Economy p.5)

Then on the same page about his views regarding ownership, he states:

“I see young men, by townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes that field they were called to labor in. Who made them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres, when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt? Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born?” (Economy p.5)

Regarding the labor of men, Thoreau believed that their professions were so overwhelming that it left little time for leisure. “It is hard to have a southern overseer; it is worse to have a northern one; but worst of all when you are the slave-driver of yourself.” (Economy p. 7)

Going on to say “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.” (Economy p. 7)

Above all, Thoreau was what we would call a minimalist today and he viewed anything beyond food, clothing, and shelter as weighing man down, vying for the time he could be spending on more lofty pursuits.

Thoreau was also keenly aware of the inherent inequality of capitalism stating:

“The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another. On the one side is the palace, on the other are the almshouse and silent poor.” (Economy p. 27)

Much of the rest of the book is about building his cabin, and his keen observations regarding the seasons, neighbors, and geography at Walden Pond. These are so detailed as if written by a Naturalist. There is a passage in one of the chapters that goes into great detail about a war between two different species of ants. Thoreau also goes as far as to measure the depth of Walden Pond and other ponds in the area at different points in the bodies of water. Then there are the details of when Walden Pond froze in the Winter detailing the attributes of the ice such as the depth, color, and consistency.

It is obvious to the reader of this book that Thoreau had an immense curiosity and love for the nature that surrounded him.

Henry David Thoreau is often referred to as a Transcendentalist. There are many definitions of Transcendentalism, but I like the one that refers to an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson “The Transcendentalist”. From a very basic definition, we can think of Transcendentalism as:

Transcendentalism emphasized the importance of individualism, intuition, and a direct connection to the divine, and rejected the materialism and conformity of contemporary society. In “The Transcendentalist,” Emerson argues that Transcendentalists are people who seek to transcend the limitations of the physical world and find truth and meaning through spiritual and philosophical pursuits. He also notes that Transcendentalists embrace the power of the individual and reject the notion that authority should come from institutions or tradition.

Reference: https://emersoncentral.com/texts/nature-addresses-lectures/lectures/the-transcendentalist/

Recommendation

Now you are subjected to my opinion of Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I mentioned earlier that there were times when reading Walden that I struggled due to an older form of prose with sometimes difficult to understand metaphors and long sentences. For me, the first couple of chapters “Economy” and “Where I lived, and What I Lived For” were the most difficult to comprehend. That said, this can be easily overcome by slowing down and carefully reading the text.

On the positive side, Walden is the kind of book you can relish each page while reading. So clear and explicit were the descriptions of nature that I often felt like I was there on Walden Pond experiencing nature myself. Thoreau calls us to experience a life of simplicity and investigation. As you read Walden you are likely to consider a life of minimalism, living off the grid if you will. From a philosophical perspective, Thoreau provides ample reasons for rejecting materialism, returning to nature, deep thought, and an appreciation of classical literature. I was so intrigued by his reference to the Illiad and Odyssey by Homer that I am reading the Illiad at the time of writing this book review.

I consider Walden as one of the great examples of classical American literature and highly recommend it. It is one of those books that will influence the way you think for the better. For me, it was tailor-made for the 20th or 21st Century audience. Walden is a breath of fresh air for the materialistic, capitalistic, me-oriented society that we live in today. The purpose of this blog has always been and will continue to be to review “inspirational books”, and Walden is a great example that you should consider adding to your library.

About the Author

Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay “Civil Disobedience” (originally published as “Resistance to Civil Government”), an argument in favor of citizen disobedience against an unjust state.

Thoreau’s books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, in which he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern-day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close observation of nature, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and attention to practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life’s true essential needs.

Thoreau was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the fugitive slave law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending the abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau’s philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political thoughts and actions of notable figures such as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Thoreau is sometimes referred to retrospectively as an anarchist, but may perhaps be more properly regarded as a proto-anarchist. In his seminal essay, “Civil Disobedience”, Thoreau wrote as follows:

“I heartily accept the motto,—’That government is best which governs least;’ and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe,—’That government is best which governs not at all;’ and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have…. But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government.”

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau

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