Sometime in high school, every single one of us was told to
turn to ___ page in our American Literature textbook and read a one or two
paragraph exert from Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”. Let’s be honest, most of
us probably didn’t read it. Full disclosure, I loved high school English so
much that I still read the same books for fun. But even for an appreciator of
classic literature such as myself, when it came to Thoreau, I really didn’t get
it. (Of course, never mind the absurdity of exposing 15 year old kids to some
of the greatest works of human civilization, and then chastising them for not
getting it.) So back in the fall when I read an article that discussed how Walden
was Teddy Roosevelt’s and John Muir’s favorite book, I thought, “Hey, I have
got to give that Thoreau another shot.” So for $6 on Amazon Prime, I got my copy of Walden
and Civil Disobedience. I stuck it in my hunting gear bag, determined to read
it slowly over the course of the fall while deer hunting. Because shouldn’t you
read a book about being in the woods while you are actually in the woods? By the end of the season, I still had a good
200 pages to go, so I finally sat down and finished it. It was a little bit of a challenge in the
beginning but soon I loved it so much that I would always have to have a
highlighter or pen around to underline passages. Here are a few observations for
encouragement:
1) On the whole, it is actually easy to read. Yes, there are some confusing tangents, but
those are typically tied to cultural references that seemed very appropriate at
the time. He was writing this for an
1850’s audience. So imagine if you wrote something referencing the Kardashians
today, wouldn’t it be confusing to a reader in 170 years? WE HOPE TO GOD SO.
2) Because there is really not much of a plot, it
is easy to pick up and put down. It is
organized into chapters, but it really isn’t necessary to even read them in
order. Although the last part, titled
Conclusion, should be read at the end.
3) Don’t be surprised if it starts to affect your
behavior. The simple living message got me to cut off my cable and cancel my
satellite radio. Now sure, I still have HBO GO and unlimited cell phone data
for music streaming, but I had those before!
I mean, I am not becoming a total Neanderthal.
I will say it was funny that I made my
first visit to Ikea after finishing the chapter called “Economy”. As I walked
through the city of furniture, I kept thinking about Thoreau’s anti-furniture
rant. He only had three chairs, “One for
solitude, two for company, three for society.”
Anyway,
for $6, it is worth giving it a shot.
Stick it in your bag and bring it out when you are waiting in a deer
stand, or an airport, or a doctor’s office.
At worst, you will at least look pretty smart. At best, no matter the outcome of your
initial activity, you can at least say, “Well, I did read five pages of
Thoreau.” And you have won the day!
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