Walking [Paperback]

Henry David Thoreau (Author), 1stWorld Library (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2004

Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. 1st World Library-Literary Society is a non-profit educational organization. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil - to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society. I wish to make an extreme statement, if so I may make an emphatic one, for there are enough champions of civilization: the minister and the school committee and every one of you will take care of that. I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks - who had a genius, so to speak, for SAUNTERING, which word is beautifully derived "from idle people who roved about the country, in the Middle Ages, and asked charity, under pretense of going a la Sainte Terre," to the Holy Land, till the children exclaimed, "There goes a Sainte-Terrer," a Saunterer, a Holy-Lander. They who never go to the Holy Land in their walks, as they pretend, are indeed mere idlers and vagabonds; but they who do go there are saunterers in the good sense, such as I mean. Some, however, would derive the word from sans terre without land or a home, which, therefore, in the good sense, will mean, having no particular home, but equally at home everywhere. For this is the secret of successful sauntering. He who sits still in a house all the time may be the greatest vagrant of all; but the saunterer, in the good sense, is no more vagrant than the meandering river, which is all the while sedulously seeking the shortest course to the sea. But I prefer the first, which, indeed, is the most probable derivation. For every walk is a sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit in us, to go forth and reconquer this Holy Land from the hands of the Infidels.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A meandering ode to the simple act and accomplished art of taking a walk. Profound and humorous, companionable and curmudgeonly. Walking, by America's first nature writer, is your personal and portable guide to the activity that, like no other, awakens the senses and soul to the 'absolute freedom and wildness' of nature.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Henry David Thoreau was born in 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts. He spent time as a school teacher after attending Harvard College but was dismissed for his refusal to administer corporal punishment. In 1845, wanting to write his first book, he moved to Walden Pond and built his cabin on land owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was during his time at Walden that Thoreau was imprisoned briefly for not paying taxes; this experience became the basis for his well-known essay "Civil Disobedience." He died of tuberculosis in 1862 at the age of 44.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: 1st World Library - Literary Society (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595400338
• ISBN-13: 978-1595400338
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,350,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In defense of wilderness, January 10, 2005

By 

Gary Sprandel (Frankfort, Kentucky) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walking (Little Books of Wisdom) (Paperback)

More than any book, this argues for experiencing nature and preserving wilderness. Thoreau himself saw that fewer passenger pigeons were visiting and even then was aware of threats. Though first spoken in lectures on 1851, and 1856-1857, and published in June 1862 Atlantic Monthly, a month after his death, it still speak to us in the 21st century. For example ".. what would become of us, if we walked only in a garden or a mall?", . "In wilderness is the preservation of the world." , "To preserve wild animals implies generally the creation of a forest for them to dwell in or resort to. So it is with man". So lace up your shoes, grab your binoculars, and go for a walk and join the tribe of squirrels!

61 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It helped to open my eyes to the world around me!, March 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Walking (Little Books of Wisdom) (Paperback)

It is a perfect little book to carry with you for inspiration. It makes me want to take a walk... and the beautiful thing about this book is that it allows me to take a walk in my mind without ever leaving my office or room. I have and will continue to read it over and over.

60 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It Takes You To Another Place, September 22, 2000

By 

hikingShoe "mattshoemaker" (Middletown, Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walking (Little Books of Wisdom) (Paperback)

I bought this book after reading about Henry David Thoreau in my high school literature book. He writes about his love of nature and tries to show others how to enjoy it. This book brings out the beauty of all the surroundings that many people pass by every day. It also encouraged me to get out and live up my ocasional stroll around the neighborhood. I took this book to school and it even helped relieve me a little stress. I recommend this book to all nature lovers.