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Walden
very cheap price, but have waited a along time untill recieved the book. The book is ok, just a little bit old.
Walden
Walden, was just excellent. Even better than I thought it would be. Looks new. Very pleased.Thank you for sending it off so fast...
Walden
I found myself, overall, agreeing with one of the reviewers when he stated specifically that "Walden" is not a book to be read purely for enjoyment, it is not a thrilling read or even a very deep one in general but then one must remember in which time we live and the style used by Thoreau is one of the mid 19th Century which was prone to the type of writing he uses. Anyone who has read other novels of the time or rather written in that period will find similar styles eg James Fenimoore Cooper, Charles Dickens etc. In addition this is not a novel but rather a retelling of experiences of one man in his own adventure as he would put it.That is not to say that Thoreau does not illuminate or at times give remarkable insights especially when it came to some of the people he met who had fascinating ways of life eg the woodcutter. The book varies from downright mundane and tedious to being very insightful and beautiful. Its amazing how someone can do this as he writes, verging from one extreme to the other. But then it was written from journal notes as he lived his life in the woods over two years experience and during that time a person changes as he adapts to his new way of life. At first its very exciting and new, any new experience is always full of a kind of life shock whether it be painful or joyful, the thinking mind, the mind absorbed in everyday "safe" tasks which define the "normal" life are absent in this new environment which requires new creative energies to survive, after a while this way of life becomes the accepted one and starts to be drained of the vitality it possessed at the beginning as one is fully acclimatised to it and it becomes the norm, after this stage comes the usual safety associated with the walls created to keep life ordinary rather than really being alive. This is hard to do when living in the woods by yourself where you need constant awareness to survive unless its a little too close to civilisation which provides the safety net which Thoreau always had available to him. But still during the period where he was very much alive and aware, life is lived without need for too much unnecessary thought, and this is the place from where insights and great creativity burst forth.If one wants to know what it is like to be really truly alive in the moment and you are afraid to try it yourself and would rather read about it then try the books "Abstract Wild" by Jack Turner or "Grizzly Years" by Peacock. Am I wrong to criticise Thoreau so much ? Yes and no, eg Yes:see the comments by John Ralston Saul on exactly this aspect of Thoreau's writing, No: look at your own life or mine for example, in each case we do not escape this ordinary life we ourselves create. For the purely lived life expressed in poetry look at the poems by Basho, no clearer or more beautiful expression of life has yet been written. I say written not lived, lived can't be written down in full only a brief glimpse or shadow of it is possible even with Basho.As regards what is said it often betrays Thoreau's astonishingly well read mind, quotes from the Baghvad Gita or other Hindu texts surprise because in Throeau's day very few people would ever have bothered to read the Indian works, the average American thought his own life and European works to be far superior. Thoreau often quotes Latin, often without reference, and the notes at the end of the book are very helpful. Thoreau's experience becomes the one Americans want to live at least without being in too much danger as he would have been in the true wild still available at that time in the lives of say the trappers or mountain men of the Rockies or any native American. As such it is an in between way of living wild.So Thoreau's work is definitely worth reading even for only the historical value or the literature it represents. It stands by itself.
Walden
If anyone can describe what life is really about it is Thoreau. Even in the 1830's he gave relevant advice that can tie into everything in today's world. Every sitting a new and exciting idea to ponder over. Thoreau reminds us all of the confusing yet wonderful world we live in. Most of all Thoreau in Walden makes a tribute to the indivdual and tells us to follow our dreams, because they are just that ours. The best book I've read by far!
Walden
I would have quit reading this book if I weren't so stubborn about finishing books that I started.Here's an example of some of the writing that makes me dislike the book: "If you look closely you observe that first there pushes forward from the thawing mass a stream of softened sand with a drop-like point, like the ball of the finger, feeling its way slowly and blindly downward, until at last with more heat and moisture, as the sun gets higher, the most fluid portion, in its effort to obey the law to which the most inert also yields, separates from the latter and forms for itself a meandering channel or artery within that, in which is seen a little silvery stream glancing like lightning from one stage of pulpy leaves or branches to another, and ever and anon swallowed up in the sand."First: that's one sentence! Second: this type of writing is really difficult for me to get through, and I don't enjoy it.There was some information that I found interesting, however, particularly in terms of the cost of things, and the day-to-day information about how Thoreau lived basically "off the grid" during his time at Walden Pond. I think that I would have really enjoyed a ten-page summary.
Walden
When I first heard about this author in one of my classes, I felt that it was the most boring pices of information that I haveever heard. But, when I started to actually lusten to what he was actually saying it really got me thinking. I was the only onbe in my class that actually understood what he was saying in his stories. His writing has got me thinking different ways on everyday situation. I had never thought that I would start to think like this. His writing has got me to see things different than I ever thought that I would. What he did in his life is cool, going to live at a pond all by himself for about 2 years and find the essintials of life, is brilient. In resistance to civil government, I had never read better writing in my life. When he had to spend a night in jail and realized that it was not even a hard punishnment, for not paying his taxes. There are really no words that I can use that can explain my love for his writing, because it has just moved me to no end. I really wish that I could have been alive when he was so I could have gotten to know him better.