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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I read the first 200 pages exclusively on my boat over the summer, because what better place to read about Walden Pond than being on the lake? I didn't finish it until late October, after I had remembered the book was left on my boat unfinished. That's how uncompelling I found this work. It was charming reading the descriptions of Walden Pond around the green and blue of the water while being able to glance at the lake I resided on and relate the words directly to reality.
Thoreau comes off as quite pretentious and oftentimes arrogant. I was able to relate to a lot of his philosophies and enjoyed many of his quotes such as It is not all books that are as dull as their readers, and (paraphrasing here) The old have no very important advice to give the young, their own experience has been so partial, and their lives have been such miserable failures ... they are only less young than they were.
If Thoreau was as much a champion of minimalism as he claims to be then he would have left New England for the Frontier which was a very possible reality in the 1840s and not so much now. It's really difficult to try and relate this text to modern day and maybe it's best not to and simply read it as it was written, in the time period of the 1840s.
I enjoyed many of the points made in Civil Disobedience at the end, however it's very hard to take a man seriously who claims to be some kind of martyr after he refused to pay taxes and then spent one entire night in jail as a result of failure to pay taxes. Again, struggling not to relate it to modern day but try not paying taxes for six years and see how that works with the IRS. Then the real gem of why it was only one night: When I came out of prison, - for some one interfered, and paid that tax -. LOL! An online search theorizes it was his own Aunt. Other online searches suggest Walden lived off the food of his mother and sister while staying at Walden. Hardly Civil Disobedient and hardly minimalist. Too much like many "influencers" today who survive off their own families whilst putting on a false, independent front.
Is it really admirable to go against the fray with his safety net and the comfort of being abolitionist in staunchly anti-slavery New England?
Thoreau comes off as quite pretentious and oftentimes arrogant. I was able to relate to a lot of his philosophies and enjoyed many of his quotes such as It is not all books that are as dull as their readers, and (paraphrasing here) The old have no very important advice to give the young, their own experience has been so partial, and their lives have been such miserable failures ... they are only less young than they were.
If Thoreau was as much a champion of minimalism as he claims to be then he would have left New England for the Frontier which was a very possible reality in the 1840s and not so much now. It's really difficult to try and relate this text to modern day and maybe it's best not to and simply read it as it was written, in the time period of the 1840s.
I enjoyed many of the points made in Civil Disobedience at the end, however it's very hard to take a man seriously who claims to be some kind of martyr after he refused to pay taxes and then spent one entire night in jail as a result of failure to pay taxes. Again, struggling not to relate it to modern day but try not paying taxes for six years and see how that works with the IRS. Then the real gem of why it was only one night: When I came out of prison, - for some one interfered, and paid that tax -. LOL! An online search theorizes it was his own Aunt. Other online searches suggest Walden lived off the food of his mother and sister while staying at Walden. Hardly Civil Disobedient and hardly minimalist. Too much like many "influencers" today who survive off their own families whilst putting on a false, independent front.
Is it really admirable to go against the fray with his safety net and the comfort of being abolitionist in staunchly anti-slavery New England?
Not a how-to guide on "living deliberately" but rather a philosophical explanation and careful observation of Thoreau's own life while living beside Walden pond. Unnecessarily dense but incredibly refreshing, Thoreau weaves a beautiful tapestry of intellectual thought concerning nature, time, truth and life itself. The depth with which he observes and explores ice on the pond, something most of us never think twice about, is itself worth the read.
Thoreau was largely responsible for igniting my transcendental, degrowth/primitivist period in my later adolescence, prior to my political awakening. The image of Thoreau, solitary at Walden Pond, is the stuff of youthful dreams (especially as the unsavory reality of wage labor draws ever closer at the end of childhood).
I’m not a very well read person at 31 years old. This book made me feel good. It was nice to see observations and ideas being made by Thoreau that I have had it felt in my core but hadn’t ever tried to express. He is an excellent example for anyone that enjoys going against the grain and thinking for themselves.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
This guy is the OG rambler
I’ve returned to Walden and Civil Disobedience. It is very telling how different you take in a book when you read it in a completely different time in your life. I first read Walden and Civil Disobedience while I was getting my bachelors degree. Then when I was in graduate school in NYC, I went to Walden Pond, hung out, swam, visited Henry at his grave along with Emerson, Emily Dickinson and the like. Now I need the call back to simplicity and nature in a much different way then when I was just fresh from country living and 18 years young. I also need the Civil Disobedience so that when I am arrested at the next war protest, I will remember to bring a pen and paper!
One man’s tale of living it rough at the local lake, where he is visited weekly by his mom and sister to deliver cookies. There are beautiful and piercingly poignant passages in here about the natural world, but you have to wade through a lot of murky waters to get there. 2.5 ✨