Customer Reviews

Walden

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book should be required reading for every high school and college student in every school in the country. Our narcissistic, throwaway, gadget-intoxicated society needs to hear Thoreau's message about the satisfaction gained through living simply, and about the difference between want and need. Not to mention his pronouncement that we do not own our possessions but are rather owned and enslaved by them.

On my short list of all time favorite books, this one is up there at the top. It doesn't attain the #1 spot, but it's up there, definitely top five.

I think it is very interesting to read the reviews and notice that the vast majority of the bad reviews are coming from the young, mainly teenagers who were made to read this in school. The vast majority of the good reviews are coming from the older and the more wizened.

I think the youth of today are just so totally enamored with technology and what's cool and popular. I know I was when I was 17. But then you grow older and hopefully more wise, you live life a little and you no longer care about what's cool or what's popular, you are no longer so enamored with technology and you begin to see how technology is actually killing us. You have some perspective to temper the youthful idealism.

I just loved everything about this book, but I never read it until my 30's. If I had read it in my teens, I probably would have thought it pretty stupid.

I think Thoreau was a genius, both with words and how he lived his life. He did not live on Walden Pond his entire life, by the way. Walden pond was an experiment, not so much a way of life. His time there was meant to show people how superfluous most of our lives are, that it can be simplified, to our soul's benefit, not to mention the benefit of our fellow human beings and the world at large.

He was not a stupid man, he was educated at Harvard. He knew that his way was not the way everyone could or would live. He was not advocating a new social order. He was merely trying to prove a point, that people's lives are way too complicated.

It has been said that Thoreau was the anti-Benjamin Franklin. Realize that even in his day, Thoreau was ridiculed. It is no surprise that he would be ridiculed today, mainly by those who just simply could not live without their iPods.
I read Walden as an ideal and it made me sad. I would love to live my life in the way he did on Walden Pond, but I'm just not so sure how possible it is to live that way in today's world or even how desirable. There has to be a happy medium. You don't have to run out and live as a hermit in order to be able to appreciate Thoreau. There is beauty in the middle way, one can learn to make small changes in their lives, to try and live more simply, as many today are trying to do, to lighten our footprint on this earth, for the betterment of all.

I do believe that people's lives are too complicated, that they can't see the forest for the trees,that their lives are only about making more money so they can buy more things. They have lost their way in the world, they have forgotten, if they even even knew, what life is about.

But running out to live by yourself is not the solution either. I am reminded of the story of Christopher McCandless, whose story was made into the movie Into the Wild. He learned too late that true happiness is not real unless shared. That without love, life is meaningless. And THAT is the reason that living on Walden Pond by yourself is not the answer. We are here on this earth for each other, to love. Without love, life is meaningless.

To live on Walden Pond by yourself for a period of time, to find yourself, or to prove a point, is all well and good, but as a permanent way of life, it's not utopia.

And Thoreau knew this, after his time in the woods, he went back to civilization, but he never lost his soul and he knew how the soul was refreshed... with love, with learning, and with nature.

While plenty has been said about this book, this review is about the benefits of the Mobi edition of this book for Kindle. There are numerous versions of this book published for Kindle and it might be difficult to decide between them. I tried using the free version of Walden, but without a linked table of contents, referring to specific chapters and sections of the book was nearly impossible. The Mobi version has fantastic formatting and, best of all, a linked table of contents. It is more than worth the dollar for the table of contents alone.

This is a great book, of course. But this edition is awful. The font is tiny, the margins ridiculously thin. I was so disappointed to open the package and find this version.

This book is fantastic. It's one of my favorite books along with Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. The Transcendentalists really knew what was going on. In our consumeristic times, it is necessary to learn how to simplify. That is what Thoreau was all about.

Back in high school this was required reading...not the whole thing but a decent chunk. Pretty much all of us became obsessed with this book and we'd talk about it all the time, both during and after class. Our teacher was really good at his job, but this is also simply and amazing book. It's really a masterpiece.

Most men live lives of quiet desperation, says Thoreau, because they are living for the things of this world. He doesn't want that to be true of himself. So he decides to live simply for two years, building a small shelter near Walden pond. He plants his own garden and discovers that if he works hard for four or five months out of the year, there is plenty of time left over in the year for reading, contemplation, and observation.

He records his observations of farmers working, bluejays and squirrels eating chestnuts, men ice fishing on the pond, the snow falling, and many other things.

I must say that the book is not always easy to read, but rewards close reading. You'll come away from the book with a greater appreciation for what has been given us in the natural world. Not everyone will agree with Thoreau that you are not a complete man unless you learn to cook your own food and plant your own potatoes, but I found his logic and reasoning compelling. A classic work with timeless relevance.

I've always gotten satisfaction from the outdoors and it's complexities. I'm glad that someone shares the same sentiments. This book should be required reading for any person whether in their teens or reaching the end of their life. While Thoreau can be a bit drawn out in this book on some of his spiels, most of what he says is right on the money, even if it was 150 years ago. Too many people have given up on the outdoors and prefer to stay inside and spend their life in front of the television. This is definitely on my must read list.

if I could give this 10 stars I would. can't even say enough about it, so I will leave it at that. One of the great philosophers.

I previously wrote a negative review of the book because it appeared the page numbering system did not work.
I had transfered the book from pc to kindle and attempted to get the page numbers by pressing "menu" while reading -- this did not work and was frustrating to say the least (as a grad student I want page numbers).
Well, the solution to the heartache is simple: page numbers only work if you wirelessly download the book -- weird, but true.
Suffice to say it works a charm and I am now in citation heaven. For any kindle scholars this version of Walden is a go.