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jameseckman 's review for:
Walden and Civil Disobedience
by Henry David Thoreau, Jonathan Levin
Finished the first chapter, Economy. Imagine have Henry as your neighbor, he's cranky, unwashed and borrows your tools. On the other hand, living lightly and frugally is not a bad idea, tough to do in our modern consumer society.
Further into the book, Henry is torturing his neighbors by making offers on their farms, hard to say how serious about it he was and in the chapter Reading, recommends only the classics, because only really dead guys write the good ones. I do agree with the newspaper rant, mostly murders and celebrity trash, it's better to let most news alone and wait for the fluff to blow away. The chapter on Solitude is well named, Henry's in favor of lots of it.
The book continues on in this vein, Henry's vegan diet, his opinion on living in or close to nature, endless accounting and measurements. It's a tough read since he went to Harvard and has to prove it.
Still all in all, Thoreau was one of the earlier philosophers in the west calling out about over-commercialization and rampant consumerism along with his essay on civil disobedience against slavery, state religion and war. He is one of the originals, so suffer a bit, it still holds up.
Further into the book, Henry is torturing his neighbors by making offers on their farms, hard to say how serious about it he was and in the chapter Reading, recommends only the classics, because only really dead guys write the good ones. I do agree with the newspaper rant, mostly murders and celebrity trash, it's better to let most news alone and wait for the fluff to blow away. The chapter on Solitude is well named, Henry's in favor of lots of it.
The book continues on in this vein, Henry's vegan diet, his opinion on living in or close to nature, endless accounting and measurements. It's a tough read since he went to Harvard and has to prove it.
Still all in all, Thoreau was one of the earlier philosophers in the west calling out about over-commercialization and rampant consumerism along with his essay on civil disobedience against slavery, state religion and war. He is one of the originals, so suffer a bit, it still holds up.