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zachlittrell 's review for:
Walden
by Henry David Thoreau
Pleasant enough meditation on living naturally and simply. I think it's a disservice to both students and Thoreau that this is foisted onto the innocent as required reading. Because then it's just begging for cynical readings. Getting hung up on the side details -- Thoreau wasn't *that* far removed from people and wasn't particularly roughing it -- is to miss the point, and, frankly, to come off like a petty know-it-all.
So, with that said, let's go ahead and say what's lacking here. Thoreau is a rambler. He cannot help himself. There isn't a nook or cranny in his sentences he can pass by without filling with metaphors. And furthermore, you have probably met Thoreau. A disillusioned college-educated guy who's well-versed in Western and Eastern philosophy, believes ancient texts are more beautiful than modern ones, and, let's face it, a tad sanctimonious as fuck.
But he's often not wrong. Thoreau had his fingers on the anxieties and ennui of the industrializing world, and I think history has proven him right. Even now, when people need to relax and get away from stress, they don't go to another big city. They go to nature. For all the new books, movies, and tv shows being created now, how many of them are that good and not just candy? In our hustle and bustle, are we just setting ourselves up for dull lives?
It's worth a read. It's not gospel, but there is something earnest in a man, totally at peace with himself, watching an ant war.
So, with that said, let's go ahead and say what's lacking here. Thoreau is a rambler. He cannot help himself. There isn't a nook or cranny in his sentences he can pass by without filling with metaphors. And furthermore, you have probably met Thoreau. A disillusioned college-educated guy who's well-versed in Western and Eastern philosophy, believes ancient texts are more beautiful than modern ones, and, let's face it, a tad sanctimonious as fuck.
But he's often not wrong. Thoreau had his fingers on the anxieties and ennui of the industrializing world, and I think history has proven him right. Even now, when people need to relax and get away from stress, they don't go to another big city. They go to nature. For all the new books, movies, and tv shows being created now, how many of them are that good and not just candy? In our hustle and bustle, are we just setting ourselves up for dull lives?
It's worth a read. It's not gospel, but there is something earnest in a man, totally at peace with himself, watching an ant war.