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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

113. Walden

Walden
Henry David Thoreau
1853
Around 350 pages












I am convinced that if I ever went into the woods to live by myself I would murdered within the first few days.  If I was able to somehow evade the crazy ax men, I would probably have a meltdown about missing my sister and not having access to Netflix.  I think most people share the same opinion as me, but believe they will reconsider these views after reading Walden.  Spoiler alert: you won't.

So, like I said in my previous post, this really isn't a novel and is more a collection of essays.  Basically, Thoreau spends most of the time whining about everything that is wrong with society (Walden, in the modern language, translates to the Internet).  He complains about meat eaters, people who can't read Greek or Latin, people who drink alcohol, people who don't do manual labor.  He is kind of like cranky old man you hope won't sit next to you on a plane.

Wow, I am harsh today.  In fact, I actually enjoyed the book quite a bit; it is always interesting to read someone else's philosophy on everything in life, from hobbies to religion (which is why I enjoyed Rousseau so much).  Of course, after awhile it can feel like a lecture so there were times when it got on my nerves.

Overall, a good read but I am certainly not buying a cabin any time soon.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Thoreau spent four times as much time on the manuscript as he did at Walden Pond.

A video game based on Walden is in development.   Otherwise known as a nature screensaver.

Camping is not a good time!  From CollegeHumor:

UP NEXT: Hard Times by Charles Dickens.  Why does he make it so easy to mock his titles?

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