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But a well-read and discerning soul perseveres with grace, and remains authentic.A wonderful example is where Thoreau speaks of the utter futility of those who profess to be charitable, but are in actual fact a part of the problem. In a topsy-turvy world where nastiness, greed, and evil are the societal norm, books like Walden confirm the supremacy of Perfectly Divine Individuality.Thoreau elaborately discusses some of the wisdom which I often ponder. Many future denizens of Hell, jealously target human beings who are earning more Heaven with each passing moment, and attack them to try and weaken their spirit. Thoreau gives an analogy of a slave breeder, who donates the proceeds of every tenth slave, to buy a month of free Sundays for the first nine slaves he sold. Walden is a rare combination of beauty and goodness, penetratingly exposing the hypocrisy of society, and helping genuine human beings, who understand the true meaning of life, to evolve.
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In the beginning pages he takes me on a tour of opinions needing to be voiced in my life. I was further warned by the difficulty of his text in general.
I sensed his brilliance yet secretly accused him of purposely unconnecting from the world. I've kept Thoreau at arm's length over the years.
Economy rates low on my reading list. I was recently lead to him while looking for some essays on gardening.
The first subject he covers in Walden is ecomomy. Still, I was close to discovering his writings.
My fear of crankiness is dispelled with freshness on every page.
I don't expect it to have a long shelf life.Thoreau is one of the saints of American ecology. How does one review a classic. His writing takes one to a different time and place, and yet one in which the rape of the landscape was already taking place. In this day of eco-spirituality, Thoreau is a must-read. This edition is easy to read, but not the best quality paper. I suggest following Walden with Annie Dillard's marvelous Pingrim and Tinker's Creek. Emerson's essay on Thoreau is a happy bonus.
I disagree. I wonder if Thoreau wrote the way he did as a way of imparting to his readers how much hard work he put in to living in the woods. It is almost not worth it. Some have called Thoreau arrogant. Someone should sort out the passages of value and publish them in a small volume that most people might actually be able to get through. I've lived twenty-two years having not read Walden and I did not live them as a hillbilly.
Thoreau did not imagine what he had to say about American society, but rather he observed it. If so, he was successful.This book contains many, many little gems of clever witticism and solid advice, but it's quite difficult to sift through all of the pointless and trivial paragraphs in order to separate Thoreau's genius from his madness. Although Americans might not want to see what Walden has to show them, they should not take this disgust out on the messenger. Therefore, I probably would have been perfectly able to function in society without reading this monster.Again, though, the gems in this book cannot be denied. They are a mirror, in front of which is standing American society. That is not arrogance, it is realism and bravery.I do, however, truly wish I'd not read this book.
American society would be the beneficiaries of valuable knowledge and information without the drag of the rest of Thoreau's book.
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