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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
Oh my lord. This is awful. This wasn’t some profound musings of a great philosopher. This was the insane ramblings of a drunk truck stop republican. What a god awful read.
Alright Thoreau. Enough of that blasted Pond already. I don't understand how/why he goes on and on about the dang thing. If I didn't know any better I would have assumed he had fornicated with it (Kinda like what hag [a:Elizabeth Gilbert|11679|Elizabeth Gilbert|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1440718929p2/11679.jpg] does with her Italian food - see my review on her book). I've read each of these two books twice now and I'm just simply not a big fan of Thoreau. Perhaps I just misunderstand him. Some stuff is alright but for the most part, naaaa. I think he's extremely pompous and a complainer of society and didn't do much to contribute to it (Or at least attempt to change it. And back in the Olden Days it was actually possible since the population was so small). Even his friend Emerson did more. Why couldn't he take chapter out of his book? Afterall, he only bummed off his land for a few years. Or better yet, Benjamin Franklin. Now there's a great guy. I wonder how much of his beliefs/ideas are because he's upset from doing hard time in a federal prison. Or maybe he had some other traumatic incident happen to him as a youth to embitter his poor, tortured, restless soul. I need to read a good bio of him by [a:Walter Isaacson|7111|Walter Isaacson|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1192222433p2/7111.jpg] if he's done one.
I do want to go visit the pond though. Looked neat on Google images.
I liked the bits of Latin (whatever language it was) that he'd speak throughout the book. Too bad Latin died. That was a coolo language.
I do want to go visit the pond though. Looked neat on Google images.
I liked the bits of Latin (whatever language it was) that he'd speak throughout the book. Too bad Latin died. That was a coolo language.
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
A formative book for me in high school that was still good but not quite as powerful on a re-read over a decade later. I think Walden has a mistaken identity. Lots of people view it as a work of nature writing, and while Walden pond and the surround environment play a role, they seem to be a means to an end for Thoreau. This is a deeply philosophical work that has much more to do with Thoreau's opinions on American society and the 'quietly desperate' human soul that he sees in the western man.
The writing is at times long winded and baroque in a way that makes reading tiring over time. It's not the type of book that you can pay half attention to. Thoreau goes off on long tangents about incredible dry topics, like measuring the depths of Walden pond or telling which years the water level was particularly high, for example, that I found pointless, dull, and distracting from his actual messages. Some of the time he uses these dry topics as an analogy for his point, but other times they are simply left there without explanation. Because it's age there's some pretty casual racism involved as well, even though Thoreau was an abolitionist. It seems that those views didn't quite make the jump to his opinion about Native Americans. Thoreau sometimes clutches his pearls over things like the railroad that seems downright silly almost 200 years later. What I'm saying with all of this is that it's not a perfect book, not by a long shot.
However, I think it's an excellent book with a lot of substance to chew on, regardless of whether you agree with Thoreau or not. When Thoreau's writing is on topic and lucid, it's some of the best I've ever read. He has a habit of making extremely memorable and beautiful quotes, which I suppose do well within the context of a high school English class. He has a clear and concise vision for what he sees has moral failings in society, and uses his time at Walden as a personal example of how things could and should change for the better. Unlike his fear of the expanding railroad network, a lot of his views feel applicable even today. Thoreau could see even in the middle of the 19th century that American values created a lot of suffering for the working class and the poor. He saw the writing on the wall of where things were headed should the status quo not change, and wrote Walden to attempt to 'wake up' individuals to hamster wheels they are living in.
There's an inherent irony to Walden, Civil Disobedience, and Thoreau himself. He was a privileged white man of his age, and yet felt socially outcast from his peers.Civil Disobedience was written after one spending one night in jail, for which his aunt bailed him out. It wouldn't fault anyone for seeing these kinds of ironies and struggling to take Thoreau or his writing seriously. Yet I do think that within Walden there are some seriously valuable ideas that are worthy of some critical thought. I'm sure I will return to this work in the future, as it's the type of thing that rewards repeated explorations.
The writing is at times long winded and baroque in a way that makes reading tiring over time. It's not the type of book that you can pay half attention to. Thoreau goes off on long tangents about incredible dry topics, like measuring the depths of Walden pond or telling which years the water level was particularly high, for example, that I found pointless, dull, and distracting from his actual messages. Some of the time he uses these dry topics as an analogy for his point, but other times they are simply left there without explanation. Because it's age there's some pretty casual racism involved as well, even though Thoreau was an abolitionist. It seems that those views didn't quite make the jump to his opinion about Native Americans. Thoreau sometimes clutches his pearls over things like the railroad that seems downright silly almost 200 years later. What I'm saying with all of this is that it's not a perfect book, not by a long shot.
However, I think it's an excellent book with a lot of substance to chew on, regardless of whether you agree with Thoreau or not. When Thoreau's writing is on topic and lucid, it's some of the best I've ever read. He has a habit of making extremely memorable and beautiful quotes, which I suppose do well within the context of a high school English class. He has a clear and concise vision for what he sees has moral failings in society, and uses his time at Walden as a personal example of how things could and should change for the better. Unlike his fear of the expanding railroad network, a lot of his views feel applicable even today. Thoreau could see even in the middle of the 19th century that American values created a lot of suffering for the working class and the poor. He saw the writing on the wall of where things were headed should the status quo not change, and wrote Walden to attempt to 'wake up' individuals to hamster wheels they are living in.
There's an inherent irony to Walden, Civil Disobedience, and Thoreau himself. He was a privileged white man of his age, and yet felt socially outcast from his peers.Civil Disobedience was written after one spending one night in jail, for which his aunt bailed him out. It wouldn't fault anyone for seeing these kinds of ironies and struggling to take Thoreau or his writing seriously. Yet I do think that within Walden there are some seriously valuable ideas that are worthy of some critical thought. I'm sure I will return to this work in the future, as it's the type of thing that rewards repeated explorations.
challenging
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Civil disobedience was great. I certainly enjoyed parts of Walden, but others were a little too dense. The collected writings in the back were hit and miss; some awesome and some boring.
Delivered as a lecture on a theory of government. Several memorable quotes, but very bound to the US context.
This book is saturated in the kind of quotes you would frame on a wall or see in motivational posters found in dentist offices. The ideal that he talks about is something I have always longed for, and I love the messages he shares (even though there are some problems with the authenticity of his experience—a mile from town, mom doing laundry, etc).
To live consciously, to “be awake” and thus be alive, not wasting life, and living simply, are all things we could probably heed a little more. I crave all of these things when I am bogged down with the mundane, monotonous tasks of daily living. But this was surprising to me in some regard. It seems to be the anti-travel narrative. It is about changing the way you think, your state of mind, and as Thoreau beautifully put it, “to crave and paint the very atmosphere” from “which we look.” This idea that we can “affect the quality of the day,” no matter who we are or where we are, seems to be an argument against the need to go far far away in the pursuit of travel to “live deliberately” (74). Still, I think it can be fun do to do both, though I recognize the necessity of having that stability of mind no matter where you happen to be. I think it is hard, especially being back from Ghana, to retain the peace and joy I felt when things did not seem so go-go-go. When life was not marching to a clock, etc. I hate it when I look around in a crowd or in a restaurant and everyone seems so down and dejected. Do most men really “live lives of quiet desperation”(17)?
One thing that I do question in this narrative is what he says about the uselessness of taking advice from older people, or relating to others experiences. To some degree I think that experiences are so circumstantial that it is hard to qualify what it could mean to someone else, but I do think that there are a lot of things that I can learn from people who have gone before me. You definitely have to decide what works for you, not force that jacket if it does not fit or anything, but to say that advice is completely out is a little extreme in my book. I also question his section on “Solitude” (104). Even though I tend to like my alone time, we are social creatures, and I am prone to think he got lonelier than he let on.
I feel like the majority of these messages were really speaking to me. I am the kind of person who would be completely happy throwing my phone away and never hearing that incessant ringing again. Buying a home is the symbol of being stuck. I do not want a car, to the confusion of most people who know me, and the bus does just fine. Even though I am here, hundreds of years later when “this chopping sea of civilized life” Thoreau describes seems a little bit choppier than it was in his day, there is a lot that I can appreciate from Walden (75). I look forward to going on and reading Civil Disobedience.
To live consciously, to “be awake” and thus be alive, not wasting life, and living simply, are all things we could probably heed a little more. I crave all of these things when I am bogged down with the mundane, monotonous tasks of daily living. But this was surprising to me in some regard. It seems to be the anti-travel narrative. It is about changing the way you think, your state of mind, and as Thoreau beautifully put it, “to crave and paint the very atmosphere” from “which we look.” This idea that we can “affect the quality of the day,” no matter who we are or where we are, seems to be an argument against the need to go far far away in the pursuit of travel to “live deliberately” (74). Still, I think it can be fun do to do both, though I recognize the necessity of having that stability of mind no matter where you happen to be. I think it is hard, especially being back from Ghana, to retain the peace and joy I felt when things did not seem so go-go-go. When life was not marching to a clock, etc. I hate it when I look around in a crowd or in a restaurant and everyone seems so down and dejected. Do most men really “live lives of quiet desperation”(17)?
One thing that I do question in this narrative is what he says about the uselessness of taking advice from older people, or relating to others experiences. To some degree I think that experiences are so circumstantial that it is hard to qualify what it could mean to someone else, but I do think that there are a lot of things that I can learn from people who have gone before me. You definitely have to decide what works for you, not force that jacket if it does not fit or anything, but to say that advice is completely out is a little extreme in my book. I also question his section on “Solitude” (104). Even though I tend to like my alone time, we are social creatures, and I am prone to think he got lonelier than he let on.
I feel like the majority of these messages were really speaking to me. I am the kind of person who would be completely happy throwing my phone away and never hearing that incessant ringing again. Buying a home is the symbol of being stuck. I do not want a car, to the confusion of most people who know me, and the bus does just fine. Even though I am here, hundreds of years later when “this chopping sea of civilized life” Thoreau describes seems a little bit choppier than it was in his day, there is a lot that I can appreciate from Walden (75). I look forward to going on and reading Civil Disobedience.