Walden, Henry David Thoreau
Walden, Henry David Thoreau
29 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
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Walden

Author: Henry David Thoreau

Narrator: Gord Mackenzie

Unabridged: 14 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Engage Books

Published: 08/05/2020


Synopsis

Walden details Henry David Thoreau’s experiences over the course of two years, two months, and two days in a cabin he built near Walden Pond amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts. The text is a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and—to some degree—a manual for self-reliance.

Walden can be seen as performance art, a demonstration of how easy it can be to acquire the four necessities of life. Once acquired, he believed people should then focus their efforts on personal growth. Thoreau hoped to gain a more objective understanding of society through personal introspection. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau’s other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period.

About Henry David Thoreau

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.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Greg on December 26, 2007

The tale of a man who dared to live in his parents backyard and eat dinner with them, and then lived to write about it. Compelling.......more

Goodreads review by Mario the lone bookwolf on December 06, 2019

Finding freedom from consumerism and opportunism in harmony with nature. The principle of living in harmony with nature has been a topic for a long time until civilization alienated people from their original homeland. However, especially this opens up the possibility for introspection and reflection......more

Goodreads review by James on June 24, 2007

I often credit this book with my philosophical awakening. Thoreau presents a criticism of modern life, technology, economy, and wasteful culture from the perspective of one who has simplified his life and experienced something much closer to real independence than any other modern man. Some have cri......more

Goodreads review by Roy on July 30, 2017

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book! This month, two hundred years ago, Henry David Thoreau made his way into the world. Thus it seemed like a good time to revisit his thorny classic, which filled me with such contradictory feelings the first time around. This......more

Goodreads review by David on April 28, 2017

Henry David Thoreau is best known as an American writer and transcendentalist who wanted first-hand to experience intuitively and understand profoundly the rapport between man and nature. In a sense Thoreau is Adam after the Fall living East of Eden as a bachelor in a humble cabin built beside Walde......more