Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Record I'm Listening To: Low - David Bowie
Beer I'm Enjoying: Sweet Josie Brown Ale - Lonerider Brewing
āI 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.ā
I learned of Walden a few years ago, when I purchased one of my first audiobooks, Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. Walden served as an inspiration for Potts, who, as a vagabond himself, spends long periods traveling. Up to months at a time. I found Vagabonding very inspiring, and began romanticising about how I too, could live a life on the road in that way. I have since shown it to my wife, and she was also inspired by the advice and stories offered by Potts. Even today, we brainstorm together about how we might be able to pull off such adventures. But Iām not here to talk about Vagabonding. Walden is Thoreauās account of āgoing off the gridā so to speak, in the mid 1800s, by building himself a house on Walden pond in Massachusetts and choosing to remain mostly isolated for over two years.
Iām not familiar with the origins of āminimalism,ā but this book certainly speaks to that kind of lifestyle. As someone who aspires for more minimalism and simplicity in my own life, I was often intrigued about the way Thoreau speaks to how he rejected, what would have been the typical social constructs of the day.
āAnd I am sure that I never read any memorable news in the newspaper. If we could read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or house burned, or one vessel wreckedā¦we need never read of another. One is enough. If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad of instances and application?ā
More often, however, I would get lost when Thoreau went off on tangents about the natural world around him. The book is composed from entries he kept in a journal while living at Walden, and at times, goes quite deep. Itās considered one of the most important pieces of non-fiction by an American writer, and I learned after finishing the book that he was a leading transcendentalist, a term I had to look up. A Wikipedia entry describes the transcendentalist movement as a philosophical movement, placing an inherit goodness on people and nature, while mostly rejecting society. This is due to the belief that it has corrupted the purity of the individual, and therefore, promotes self-reliance. He speaks to this in volume. Equally enjoyable to read, were the descriptions of the wildlife and their interactions with the environment. It reminded me of A Sand County Almanac.
I found the philosophical theories that Thoreau put forward engaging (when I could follow along) and can absolutely imagine a situation in which living in a small cabin in the woods with nothing but a fishing rod and a few books would be desirable. I think most people could learn a lot about themselves in such a situation. Thoreau never contended with social media, and the assault of technological stimuli we all have to deal with. And yet, even in the 1850s, he was making the case that people were taking on too much and becoming too busy. Becoming the product of the expectations of others, rather than forging our own future in a way that conforms to our own values and sense of identity. This was my main takeaway from the book, given that I too want to create a life for myself and my family that is built on simplicity and quality, as opposed to quantity and complexity.
I certainly think itās a book worth reading for those interested in these kinds of thoughts. But the prose is tricky to navigate at times. Likely due to the age of the text (it was published in 1854) and also the philosophical insight. Some chapters however, were excellent, like Reading, Visitors, and, Winter Animals.
If nothing else, this book is a perfect example of what to expect when we āstop to smell the roses,ā and I can thereby see why it served as such an inspiration for Rolf Potts, writing a travel book about long-term travel with the specific intention of being able to do exactly that.