[From Books and You, Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1940, pp. 87-88:]

The interest of Walden must depend on the taste of the reader. For my part I read it without boredom, but without exhilaration. It is very pleasantly written, in a style without formality, with ease and grace; but if I were snowbound on a Western prairie, with a deaf mute as my only companion, I must admit that I should be dismayed to find that Thoreau’s Walden was the only book in the log cabin. It is the kind of book that needs an author of vigorous personality, with a background of singular experience and a store of out-of-the-way learning; but Thoreau was a man of supine character, his knowledge of the world was small and his reading, though respectable, followed a well-trodden path. I do not think he had the emotional force to make the experiment which is the theme of his book very important. He discovered that if you limit your wants you can satisfy them at small expense. We knew that. “It contributes greatly to a man’s moral and intellectual health,” says Hawthorne, “to be brought into habits of companionship with individuals unlike himself, who care little for his pursuits, and whose sphere and abilities he must go out of himself to appreciate.” This is very true, and none should take it more to heart than the writer of books.

[From A Writer's Notebook, Doubleday & Company, 1949, "1937", p. 274:]

There are books that are at once excellent and boring. Those that at once leap to the mind are Thoreau's Walden, Emerson's Essays, George Eliot's Adam Bede and Landor's Dialogues. Is it a chance that they belong very much to the same period?

Walden is both incredibly intriguing and possibly one of the slowest books I've ever read. It has no true meaning to it, no over arching plot, no characters, I can't even call it a story. But what it is, is a fantastic piece of art that delves into the human mind, and connects us to nature, even if we deny ourselves the fact that we ourselves, completely rely on it. Henry David Thoreau always said simplify, simplify, and simplify he did. He showed the world that everything can change, with a simple choice. Nature, or work.

Most of this book is Henry explaining or ranting about the ways of how his world works. About how working for a superior, and making their money, is not living. Working your whole life, for measly pennies, is not living. Going back into nature, where you don't have to work for your food or home. Instead, its just there, natures treasures are not one mans alone, but any man can take as much as they want. You background is no measly square patch of grass inside a fence. It's nature itself, and it will always be open to explore.

I can't exactly discuss this book in detail since there's not much to talk about. The beginning is extremely boring, and it moves a pace that will make a teen throw the book out the window. But its underlying tones, and in depth writing style, I find that its a classic, and should stay a classic. Its not the greatest thing you will ever read, but I do reccomend giving it a shot, as Henry's philosophies may change you.

Wonderful and challenging reading. ( )

This is a great read if you're in a certain mood. However, the mood isn't necessarily 'communing with nature.' I think Thoreau is more of a misanthropist than is generally admitted.

My favorite parts are the descriptions of the woods and the pond. It's easy to see why Thoreau is seen as the father of nature writing.

My copy is a Modern Library edition from 1962.

Upgraded from 3 to 3.5 stars after visiting Walden Pond in July 2009. ( )

Thoreau ranks high on my list of admired Americans, and this book, containing his best-known writings ("Walden" and "Civil Disobedience"), contains everything that I know of that gives rise to that admiration. Thoreau never would have survived as such in our crowded, conformist, hectic society, and his ideas would have received short shrift except as a fashionable darling of the intelligentsia. But his notions of personal independence from the crowds, and civil disobedience when called for, are qualities that were neccessary for the making of this country, and hopefully will keep her honest to her professed ideals. ( )