Walden: And, Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

3.6 AVERAGE

danidep's review against another edition

3.75
hopeful reflective slow-paced
mighty_dumpling's profile picture

mighty_dumpling's review against another edition

2.5
hopeful informative lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced
The first half is full of little wisdoms that can be debated for a greater value. It's the part I enjoyed. 

The second half is boooring. Walden talks about the life on the shed but in such a bloated, self-loving way I just couldn't get to like. 

I respect Walden for having done this experience and thank him for the book. Maybe I will do this, too in the future. His views on society are scewered at best as he blatantly ignores some pressing issues while romanticizing others. 
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miss_tarols's review against another edition

5.0
adventurous reflective medium-paced

philosopher_bob's review against another edition

4.0
emotional inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

kinglaughhecomes's review against another edition

4.5
challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

flelix's review against another edition

3.25
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bfoster10's review against another edition

5.0
challenging hopeful reflective slow-paced
finnonvhs's profile picture

finnonvhs's review

3.0
inspiring reflective slow-paced
teapotmoon's profile picture

teapotmoon's review against another edition

3.5
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aoibheann's profile picture

aoibheann's review against another edition

4.0
challenging informative reflective relaxing slow-paced
Personal opinions aside, this is probably one of the most important books ever written. That’s why I give it a 4. I take a few issues with the fact that Thoreau didn’t truly live away from society (his mother was doing his laundry), I do think that such a decidedly minimalist way of living is best for comparing to what was an industrializing, and is now a late stage, capitalist society. The text can get very annoying, especially when it veers into being self-congratulatory. There were times when I was literally pissed off. But over all probably invaluable. I also especially loved reading Civil Disobedience, feels like a very good account of American socialist-individualism - intriguing to me as I’m currently reading Marx!