Welcome! You are invited to use this for your own solitary experience or create a community or group conversation.
Introductory slideshow, Getting to Know Henry.
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Economy
rationale for book
what is necessary in life?
how we spend our time
the purpose of clothing
how we understand shelter
building the cabin and expenses
variations on a theme: economy
the nature of architecture
food and furniture
philanthropy
Where I Lived and What I Lived For, Reading
philosophy of living
simplify
birth, awakening
live fully
books are treasures
Sounds, Solitude, Visitors
summer chores at Walden
the railroad
animal sounds
inward meditation, knowing ourselves
nature’s company
society’s company
The Bean-Field, The Village, The Ponds
husbandry and what we cultivate
at war with weeds and woodchucks
what is sacred?
society as a counterpoint
the power of the dark and getting lost
going to jail
purity of the pond
our relationship with nature
Baker Farm, Higher Laws, Brute Neighbors
definition of poverty
paying visits
beware working “to live”
divinity of the “wild”
humans need wildness
animals
conversation between hermit and poet
ant war and loon game
House-Warming, Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors, Winter Animals
autumn changes
hospitality
getting warm
value of wood
history of local residents
being a heathen
anecdotes and descriptions of people, including Transcendentalists
animal anecdotes
The Pond in Winter, Spring, Conclusion
attributes of the pond and fishing
Walden Pond survey
laws of nature and ethics
ice cutting
mythologizing Walden
the pond thawing
sand foliage
consciousness of earth
laws of nature and regeneration
what the narrator learned
explore yourself
imagine possibilities
power of simplicity
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Recommended Editions of Walden
LibriVox version on YouTube–Chapter Timestamps in comments section
$10 Yale University Press Edition available through The Barn Owl, 208 – 634 – 4440.
$5 Dover Thrift Edition available through The Barn Owl.
Free digital editions on Standard Ebooks.
Idaho Digital Consortium/Overdrive Links if you have a local library card:
Walden ebook on Overdrive 1
Walden ebook on Overdrive 2
All Thoreau ebooks on Overdrive