So, we began with a lengthy discourse on the excesses and pitfalls of modern economy. Then as an answer and counterpoint, a poetic chapter on living simply, deliberately, and awakened. So now why an entire chapter on Reading? Think about it. If our intention is to...
Each chapter of the book has some kind of transition from the last one, or it has a complementary opposing theme. Here, Thoreau continues the theme of what kind of house he needs. He establishes his experience in considering properties and tell us what he rejects, a...
Yes, we know—reading and understanding Thoreau is not easy. His fellow Concordians often misunderstood him, and he loved contradictions– think paradox, pun, and satire. Rather than being deterred, let’s have a sense of adventure. We can question, experiment,...
I had three pieces of limestone on my desk, but I was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily, when the furniture of my mind was all undusted still, and threw them out the window in disgust. How, then, could I have a furnished house? I would rather sit...
To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only...
