Walden [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Henry David Thoreau (Author), Mel Foster (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2008

Walden is the classic account of two years spent by Henry David Thoreau living at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. The story is detailed in its accounts of Thoreau's day-to-day activities, observations, and undertakings to survive out in the wilderness for two years. Thoreau's journal is an exquisite account of a man seeking a more simple life by living in harmony with nature. In today's fast-paced consumer-driven society, the austere lifestyle endorsed by Thoreau is as relevant and refreshing as ever.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), an essayist, poet, philosopher, and anti-slavery activist, is one of the most beloved figures in American literature. He is the author of dozens of books and essays, including On Civil Disobedience, The Maine Woods, and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Mel Foster is a former ad agency executive who used to record test tracks for commercials. An audiobook narrator since 2002, he won an Audie Award for Finding God in Unexpected Places by Philip Yancey and an AudioFile Earphones Award for the novel Match Made in Heaven by Bob Mitchell. Mel is the author of several novels, including Shaking Hands with Lefkowitz, and he hopes that one day listeners will get the opportunity to hear him reading something that he's written himself.

From AudioFile

Mel Foster's resonant voice narrates this classic text with a precision that sounds nearly detached, but this style is appropriate for a work that emphasizes simplicity and personal accountability. Thoreau's reflections as he lived alone at Walden Pond are insightful; listening to WALDEN is a wonderful way to become better acquainted with his ideas, which are timeless and endlessly apropos to contemporary life. The pacing and delivery of the message are both clear and easy to absorb, making this classic beautifully suited to the audiobook format, especially with Foster's consistent voice taking control. Thoreau maintained that the "mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation"; this audiobook could help one break that silence. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Tantor Media; Unabridged edition (May 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400106931
• ISBN-13: 978-1400106936
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,864,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb performance of an underrated classic, August 25, 2009

By 

Jonathan Zasloff - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Walden (Audio CD)

First things first: if you are reading this review, it is probably because you are considering not just Walden, but Walden on audio. Does it work in that medium?

Have no fear: not only does Walden not LOSE something by being read, it probably gains something from Mel Foster's excellent performance. My first experience with his reading was the production of William Bernstein's A Splendid Exchange, and it was disappointing -- flat and lifeless. But he did a fine job with James Kugel's How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now, and this is terrific, too; I'll assume the mediocre job with the Bernstein was the producer's fault.

Now, to the book. So much has been written about it, both on Amazon and elsewhere, that there is little more to say. But I will say this: if you read it in college, or if, like me, you merely PRETENDED to read it in college, pick it up again later in life. It is worth reading, and studying, and savoring.

Walden is thought of as the urtext of nature writing, particularly American nature writing, but that really understates the matter -- thus, my assessment of it as an "underrated" classic. It is really so much more: an essay on the nature and purpose of human existence, an exploration of human nature itself, and an example of how we can see the sacred in the mundane. Indeed, one could argue that Thoreau was not so much writing about nature, but using nature as a way of seeing the supernatural -- looking THROUGH nature to grasp the reality of the unseen.

And forget any notion you may have had about Thoreau, the dreamer: this is actually a very practical man, who strives hard to show that what he is doing can be a model for what all people should do. Not that they should go live in a cabin, but rather that they can and should seek their own unique path of existence. (Thus, the different drummer). It is no accident that the first and longest chapter is entitled "Economy": Thoreau wants to demonstrate that following a different IS possible if we prepare ourselves. If he is not fully convincing that anyone can do anything they want and make it stick, he is, in my view, unanswerable in his assertion that we cannot and must not be satisfied with what we are given, or what tradition or even our own habits tell us what we "should" do. If for nothing else, Walden is must-reading for anyone, young or old, religious or atheist, American or citizen of any nation. Or even no nation.