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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
challenging
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Beautifully expressed exploration of our dis-connection from natural space and place, and the concept of community action against injustices in law
challenging
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Thoreau's musings on life and philosophy of asceticism are reflected in his obsession with Walden Pond and the surrounding lands in Massachusetts. Whilst there are times where he seems to go on at length in a stream-of-consciousness ramble (especially early on - the first chapter is some 64 pages!) much of what he says still holds true to this day.
After the halfway point Walden holds a great deal more interest, as he lets go of issues of money and retreat from society and talks at length about the nature, the seasons, the people and animals he meets, and muses more on society and what we can live without, versus what is required to live. His style never shifts from its rambling nature, but as his focus shifts from the industry of living alone in the woods to documenting Walden itself and his preoccupation with the pond, I feel a marked change in his attitude. At times he can come off as arrogant with his attitudes toward other people, but broadly Walden is a humble and enticing ramble through Walden's history and geography.
Civil Disobedience, while only occupying 25 pages, is still a sharp and timely treatise on government resistance. It reminds us of what we've lost - we can no longer rebel by refusing to pay taxes in our modern, digital age - but also of the battles we've won and the ways we have to resist impositions of the state.
After the halfway point Walden holds a great deal more interest, as he lets go of issues of money and retreat from society and talks at length about the nature, the seasons, the people and animals he meets, and muses more on society and what we can live without, versus what is required to live. His style never shifts from its rambling nature, but as his focus shifts from the industry of living alone in the woods to documenting Walden itself and his preoccupation with the pond, I feel a marked change in his attitude. At times he can come off as arrogant with his attitudes toward other people, but broadly Walden is a humble and enticing ramble through Walden's history and geography.
Civil Disobedience, while only occupying 25 pages, is still a sharp and timely treatise on government resistance. It reminds us of what we've lost - we can no longer rebel by refusing to pay taxes in our modern, digital age - but also of the battles we've won and the ways we have to resist impositions of the state.
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.