Walking

by Henry David Thoreau

The philosophies of Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)—hero to environmentalists and ecologists, profound thinker on humanity's happiness—have greatly influenced the American character, and his writings on human nature, materialism, and the natural world continue to be of profound import today. In this essay, first published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862 and vital to any appreciation of the great man's work, Thoreau explores:

• the joys and necessities of long afternoon walks;
• how spending time in untrammeled fields and woods soothes the spirit;
• how Nature guides us on our walks;
• the lure of the wild for writers and artists;
• why "all good things are wild and free," and more.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Classics, Nature, Essays, Walking, Travel

60 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1861

About the author

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, philosopher, and abolitionist who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.

Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism.

In 1817, Henry David Thoreau was born in Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1837, taught briefly, then turned to writing and lecturing. Becoming a Transcendentalist and good friend of Emerson, Thoreau lived the life of simplicity he advocated in his writings. His two-year experience in a hut in Walden, on land owned by Emerson, resulted in the classic, Walden: Life in the Woods (1854). During his sojourn there, Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican war, for which he was jailed overnight. His activist convictions were expressed in the groundbreaking On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849). In a diary he noted his disapproval of attempts to convert the Algonquins "from their own superstitions to new ones." In a journal he noted dryly that it is appropriate for a church to be the ugliest building in a village, "because it is the one in which human nature stoops to the lowest and is the most disgraced." (Cited by James A. Haught in 2000 Years of Disbelief.) When Parker Pillsbury sought to talk about religion with Thoreau as he was dying from tuberculosis, Thoreau replied: "One world at a time."

Thoreau's philosophy of nonviolent resistance influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. D. 1862.

More: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/tho...

http://thoreau.eserver.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Da...

http://transcendentalism-legacy.tamu....

http://www.biography.com/people/henry...

Reviews

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

”I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks—who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering: which word is beautifully derived “from idle people who roved about the country, in the Middle Ages, and I asked charity, under pretense of going à la Sainte Terre,” to the Holy Land, till the children exclaimed, ‘There goes a Sainte Terre,’ a Saunterer, a Holy-Lander. They who never go to the Holy Land in their walks, as they pretend, are indeed mere idlers and vagabonds; but they who do go there are saunterers in the good sense, such as I mean. Some, however, would derive the word from sans terre, without land or home, which, therefore, in the good sense, will mean, having no particular home, but equally at home everywhere.”

Published posthumously as an essay in 1862 in the Atlantic Monthly magazine, this was originally part of a lecture given by Thoreau in 1851. A relatively slight 60 pages, this was a wonderful reminder to spend more time walking, enjoying the somewhat temporary milder weather, and appreciate the beauty around us.



Pub Date: 18 Sep 2019


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Dover Publications!

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least—and it is commonly more than that—sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.

Moreover, you must walk like a camel, which is said to be the only beast which ruminates when walking.

Nowadays almost all man's improvements, so called, as the building of houses and the cutting down of the forest and of all large trees, simply deform the landscape, and make it more and more tame and cheap.

I love to walk so I had no problem agreeing with much of what Thoreau says in the first part of this essay. He wanted people to connect with the Wild, which is even harder to do these days than in his own, especially depending on where a person lives. In this particular corner of Mexico, there is not really too much empty space, not like in the vast deserts of Arizona where I used to live. There, just five miles out of town, my husband and I felt like the only two people on the planet. And after ten more we seemed to have become a part of our surroundings: weaving our way between thorny bushes, or following the dry wash where once we saw two deer, or sitting on a rock and simply
listening. Peace and quiet sing in the desert. I miss hearing that music.

Thoreau suggests that West and Wild are essentially the same thing. That man has been drawn to the West even before the discovery of the New World, always seeking to meet that setting sun that is just ahead of us. He even thought that America was discovered just so Man could become more than what he was in the Old World.

I trust that we shall be more imaginative, that our thoughts will be clearer, fresher, and more ethereal, as our sky—our understanding more comprehensive and broader, like our plains—our intellect generally on a grander scale, like our thunder and lightning, our rivers and mountains and forests-and our hearts shall even correspond in breadth and depth and grandeur to our inland seas.

The more I read the news these days, the less I see that vision developing.

I began to get a little confused when after all of this admiration for the Wild, he then says this:
The weapons with which we have gained our most important victories, which should be handed down as heirlooms from father to son, are not the sword and the lance, but the bushwhack, the turf-cutter, the spade, and the bog hoe, rusted with the blood of many a meadow, and begrimed with the dust of many a hard-fought field.

So which is best, Henry? The Wild you love to walk in or the settled land? Because you cannot have both on the same plot of ground. You have either wilderness or farmland or towns. And the more people who venture into the wild, the less wild it becomes, even if you are just walking along ruminating.

Later he talks about watching some cows playing in a field, acting Wild. He thought it was wonderful. But in the very next paragraph I rejoice that horses and steers have to be broken before they can be made the slaves of men, and that men themselves have some wild oats still left to sow before they become submissive members of society. Is he rejoicing that the Wild is there? Or that it must be beaten out of both animals and men? And why is it not possible to keep a bit of the Wild in your soul, no matter what else you have going on in your life? Can we not be members of society without being completely submissive?

I feel like I need to read more of Thoreau's work (and maybe argue with him a little more) before I completely understand what he was all about. But I did like the final sentence in this essay (well, I would have said Universe instead of Holy Land, but I guess I am still in a debating mood!):

So we saunter toward the Holy Land, till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall perchance shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, as warm and serene and golden as on a bankside in autumn.

[Jo (The Book Geek) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"My desire for knowledge is intermittent, but my desire to bathe my head in atmosphere unknown to my feet is perennial and constant."


I discovered this book quite by accident when I was rummaging in the bookstore. This is but a short read, and it is full of beautiful sentences that evoke dreamlike imagery, all about one of my most favourite activities: the simple act of walking.

I would say that this isn't the kind of book to read fast or skim read, as I think these words should be taken in slowly, so that they are effectively understood. I read this at a time where I wasn't able to get out walking as much as I would have liked. I often escape to the forest and I use it as a therapy of sorts, and I have done so for years. It is a valuable and easy source of relaxation and invigoration for me.

The writing style won't be for everyone, as I found Thoreau's attention wandered off every now and then, leaving a slight gap in what he was currently explaining. It was obvious that he had a lot of time on his hands, free to go out walking whenever he chose to, taking in the simple beauty around him, that some of us simply haven't the time to stop and stare at.

I found it interesting how he mentioned that women must be so fed up stuck in the house staring at four walls! It was expected for a woman to be at home, keeping house and preparing dinner but nowadays, woman tend to partake in walking more than ever.

This was an intriguing read, which has made me want to read 'Walden' sooner, rather than later.

[Paula Mota · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

Um livro realmente bom é algo natural, inesperado, inexplicavelmente notável e belo, como uma flor silvestre encontrada na pradaria do Oeste ou na selva do Leste. O génio é uma luz que torna a escuridão visível, como a luz de um relâmpago, e que despedaça talvez o próprio templo do conhecimento - e não uma vela acesa na pedra da lareira do homem, que empalidece diante da luz do dia comum.

Desde que li os livros de Herman Hesse, “Ainda da Felicidade” e “Caminhada”, que fiquei com o bichinho das passeatas alheias. Este “Andar a Pé”, apesar do título explícito, tende mais para a teoria do que para a prática, mais para a motivação do que para a contemplação, mais para o enaltecer a mãe-natureza do que propriamente embrenhar-se nela. Não é de todo uma leitura aborrecida, porque Henry David Thoreau é sempre de uma modernidade admirável, só não me trouxe o ar fresco literário que eu pretendia.
“Andar a Pé” era uma das palestras preferidas deste naturalista norte-americano, onde ele instiga os seus contemporâneos a saírem de casa e a partirem rumo ao desconhecido.

As nossas expedições são apenas passeios que terminam à noite no conforto da lareira da qual partimos. Metade da caminhada não é mais do que percorrer lugares já conhecidos. Devíamos ir mais longe no mais simples dos passeios, e talvez, no espírito da aventura infinita, nunca mais regressar.

Porque fala por experiência própria…

Creio que não consigo preservar a minha saúde física e espiritual se não passar quatro horas por dia, pelo menos – e frequentemente passo mais do que isso – a deambular pelos bosques, montes e vales, absolutamente alheado de todas as obrigações mundanas.

…e não se esquece sequer das mulheres muito mais confinadas a quatro paredes.

Não sei como as mulheres, circunscritas em casa muito mais do que os homens, aguentam esta situação; mas tenho razões para suspeitar de que muitas delas não a toleram de todo.

Thoreau é um idealista que fala de forma entusiástica das suas ideias, mas perde um pouco a noção do privilégio que lhe concede o seu estatuto.

Quando por vezes me lembro de que artesãos ou caixeiros ficam nos postos de trabalho não só a manhã, mas também a tarde, muito deles de perna cruzada, penso que merecem algum reconhecimento por ainda não terem cometido suicídio.

Apesar disso, a sua mensagem é certeira pela irreverência.

Já ouvimos falar da sociedade para a Difusão do Conhecimento Útil. Diz-se que saber é poder, ou algo semelhante. Creio que é igualmente necessária uma Sociedade para a Difusão da Ignorância Útil, algo que intitularei “Conhecimento do Belo”.

Em última instância, todo este discurso serve para arrancar o indivíduo da sua apatia e impeli-lo à acção e à luta pela liberdade, mostrando uma vez mais a sua faceta anarquista, que é sempre o que mais me espanta nos seus escritos.

Há algo de servil no hábito de invocar uma lei a que devemos obedecer. Podemos saber de cor as leis importantes por conveniência própria, mas uma vida bem-sucedida não conhece leis. É com certeza uma descoberta infeliz saber que uma lei nos subjuga de formas que desconhecíamos. Vivam em liberdade, filhos da névoa.

[Berfin Kanat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Özetle: Bitirince yürümek isteyeceksiniz.
Herhangi bir yere, varış noktası olmadan yürümek. Sakinleştirici etkisi yaratan bir kitap, okudukça "Neden kafamdaki gerekli gereksiz her şeyi bir kenara bırakıp sadece yürümüyorum?" dedim. Yazarın günlerce yürüdüğünü yazdığı kısım doğruysa tebrik ediyorum.
Benim için yürüyüş her zaman bir düşünme şekli, mutlaka kafamda bir şeyler olur. Çoğumuz için bu büyük ihtimalle böyle. Thoreau ise yürürken içini unutup dışarıyı gözlemliyor. Komşusunun bahçesinde çıkan yeni bir bitki, hiç gitmediği bir yönde karşılaştıkları, ay ışığında yürürken değişen renkler, sessizlik... Betonların arasında dahi olsa yürümek istiyor insan, öyle bir etki bırakıyor.
Kitaba dair sevmediğim tek şey bu denli doğa hayranı birinin Amerikan Yerliler'inden "mahallenin çocukları" der gibi bahsetmesiydi. Yurtlarını işgal ettikleri insanlardan biraz daha saygıyla bahsetmesini isterdim. Bu benim hissim de olabilir, yine de yanıldığımı düşünmüyorum.
Çizdiğim satırlar değil paragraflar var ama bunları düşünmeyi bırakıp sadece yürürsem kitabı tam olarak eyleme dökmüş olacağım.

[Riku Sayuj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could jogging count, perchance? I promise to keep my head facing west by south-west as I run in my daily circles...

[Elizabeth Cottrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was terribly disappointed in this book, primarily because it just didn't flow or hold together. I have known Thoreau primarily from quotations, and indeed, the lyrical or descriptive beauty of random excerpts from this book were its only redeeming elements.

Examples:

"For every walk is a sort of crusade..."

"When a traveler asked Wordsworth's servant to show him her master's study, she answered, 'Here is his library, but his study is out of doors.'"

"There is something in the mountain air that feeds the spirit and inspires."

"...in Wildness is the preservation of the World. Every tree sends its fibers forth in search of the Wild."

"Dullness is but another name for tameness...in short, all good things are wild and free."

And his eloquent conclusion:

"So we saunter toward the Holy Land, till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall perchance shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, as warm and serene and golden as on a bankside in autumn."

But after all was said and done, these lovely pearls were not sufficient to make me want to recommend the book.

[julieta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoreau finds nature a reflection of how we think. Leaving nature for civilisation is the first mistake we make.
I love everything he writes, and of course, this is more about nature than it is about walking, and more of who we are in nature.

[Paul Stevenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where do you come from? where do you go? Where do you come from, Henry Thoreau?

[Katrina Van Grouw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Welcome to the ruminations of a man so utterly detached from society and so ridiculously romantic that he lacks all empathy, common sense or logic, and instead sits on his own throne of self-righteousness bemoaning the state of the world.
I wanted to like this essay. I love nature, I love walking, and I love reading about both. (Think "Walking to Listen" by Andrew Forsthoefel). But this book was such utter bull that it made me laugh to think that people can take this man seriously. Pretentiousness leaks from his pores. Let's quote some of the best lines:

"I think I cannot preserve my health and spirits unless I spend four hours a day at least-and it is commonly more than that- sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements."

You do you Thoreau. I have no problem with you waltzing around smelling the daisies, but to preach this way of life as the only one worth living is ludicrous. Here's another quote that backs up my point:
"I am reminded that the mechanics and shopkeepers stay in their shops all day, sitting with crossed legs, so many of them; as if the legs were made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk upon; I think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide long ago".

Wow. Just wow. To think that paragraph, then decide to write it, then decide to PUBLISH it??? Thoreau's separation from working class people is revolting. Oh, and since in the rest of the book he loves talking about how he loves mud and swamps, why don't you get down off your pedestal Henry, and go grovel in some mud, ok honey? Would do wonders for your ego.

"How womankind, who are confined to the house still more than men, stand it, I do not know: but I have ground to suspect they do not STAND it at all".
Thoreau then goes on to say they instead sleep all day. Insufferable.

Now, I'm not here to lambast the entire book. There were sections and sentiments I actually agreed with. As follows:

"The callous palms of the laborer are conversant with finer tissues of self-respect and heroism, whose touch thrills the heart, than the languid fingers of idleness. That is mere sentimentality that lies abed by day and thinks itself white, far from the tan and callus of experience."

I agree with this quote, but it is ironic to me that Thoreau can say this after he just lamented the "poor, purposeless people that have to work for a living! How demeaning!" Please tell me, how much "Callous of experience" do you have after mooning around looking at pine needles your whole life and feeling high and mighty because you only walk in a westward direction?

Later in the book, Thoreau goes on a pro-America rant that is exaggerated to the point of absurdity. Listen, I love America. But here is a paragraph Thoreau wrote in all seriousness....

"In the New World, Nature has not only outlined her works on a larger scale, but has painted the whole picture with brighter and more costly colors than she used in delineating and beautifying the Old World....the heavens of American appear infinitely higher, the sky is bluer, the air is fresher, the cold is intenser, the moon looks larger, the stars are brighter, the thunder is louder, the lightning is vivider, the wind is stronger, the rain is heavier, the mountains are higher, the rivers longer, the forest bigger, the plains broader".....
You shouldn't have to do all the work Henry, let me help. "The authors are stupider, the men are prouder, the women are sleepier, the shopowners are more suicidal..."
He then says that Americans as a whole will be more intelligent and think grander thoughts than every country because of this environment. Sigh.
Here's the sentence that sent me over the edge.

"As a true patriot, I should be ashamed to think that Adam in paradise was more favorably situated on the whole than the backwoodsmen in this country".
Go touch some grass Henry. Oh wait, that's all you do. Go get a 9-5 job Henry, and let me know what you think after you have to live a responsible life that is of some use to society instead of your incessant nattering.

He continues to talk about how much he loves swamps, specifically the "quaking sphagnum" which is an excellent insult. Here's another lovely quote from Henry:

"My spirits infallibly rise in proportion to the outward dreariness".
No they don't. Don't pretend they do. If you were working in a coal mine for the rest of your days, I somewhat doubt that you would be composing sonnets to the bleak darkness that surrounds you, softly scratching hieroglyphics into the cave walls, humming softly to yourself; "yes, yes, this is a life worth living".

Then the book begins to talk about WILDNESS. How everything that is good is WILD. FREE. picture a bearded mountain man, his hair flowing softly in the breeze, eating pinecones and having constipation; YES. WILDERNESS. Thoreau says it best: "Give me for my friends and neighbors wild men, not tame ones." You say that now Henry, but when Bob from across the street is sitting in his lawn shirtless rubbing mayonnaise on his chest and chanting nursery rhymes, let me know what you think.
After all of this: There were some actual good parts of the book, hence the two and not one stars. The last section of several paragraphs was my favorite part by far: a simple description and appreciation of nature. If only Henry had stuck to that instead of being a *quirky* writer who can subsist on sunshine alone and has no grasp of reality.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This essay by Henry David Thoreau is about the author's joy in living in nature and in the present. Walking is a short read and nicely encapsulates many of Thoreau's themes from Walden Pond and his other works.

Nowadays almost all man's improvements, so called, as the building of houses and the cutting down of the forest and of all large trees, simply deform the landscape, and make it more and more tame and cheap. A people who would begin by burning the fences and let the forest stand! I saw the fences half consumed, their ends lost in the middle of the prairie, and some worldly miser with a surveyor looking after his bounds, while heaven had taken place around him, and he did not see the angels going to and fro, but was looking for an old post-hole in the midst of paradise. I looked again, and saw him standing in the middle of a boggy Stygian fen, surrounded by devils, and he had found his bounds without a doubt, three little stones, where a stake had been driven, and looking nearer, I saw that the Prince of Darkness was his surveyor.

I can easily walk ten, fifteen, twenty, any number of miles, commencing at my own door, without going by any house, without crossing a road except where the fox and the mink do: first along by the river, and then the brook, and then the meadow and the woodside. There are square miles in my vicinity which have no inhabitant. From many a hill I can see civilization and the abodes of man afar. The farmers and their works are scarcely more obvious than woodchucks and their burrows. Man and his affairs, church and state and school, trade and commerce, and manufactures and agriculture even politics, the most alarming of them all—I am pleased to see how little space they occupy in the landscape. Politics is but a narrow field, and that still narrower highway yonder leads to it. I sometimes direct the traveler thither. If you would go to the political world, follow the great road—follow that market-man, keep his dust in your eyes, and it will lead you straight to it; for it, too, has its place merely, and does not occupy all space. I pass from it as from a bean field into the forest, and it is forgotten. In one half-hour I can walk off to some portion of the earth's surface where a man does not stand from one year's end to another, and there, consequently, politics are not, for they are but as the cigar-smoke of a man.

I live in an urban world in which I would have to drive at top sped for an hour and a half to get to the wildness of the desert, which Thoreau never knew. Most of my life is spent hemmed in by people, buildings, roads--and very little nature. Reading Thoreau, for me, is like nature porn. It excites me and makes me want to re-think my life.

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Saunter (at a clip!) far away from this one. You know there'll be trouble by page two when Thoreau, speculating on the etymology of the word "saunter," declares that he "prefer[s]" a derivation from "Sainte-Terrer," a "Holy-lander," rather than "sans terre," a wanderer "without land or a home." "For every walk is a sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit in us, to go forth and reconquer this Holy Land from the hands of the Infidels." Ugh. Malarkey.

"You must be born into the family of the Walkers. Ambulator nascitur, non fit." If it were possible to ruin walking (which it is not), this pompous tract would come close. By walking, Thoreau means walking westward (literally) toward a personal and national manifest destiny. Every walk has a telos. “We go eastward to realize history and study the works of art and literature, retracting the steps of the race; we go westward as into the future, with a spirit of enterprise and adventure.”

And those "mechanics and shopkeepers [who] stay in their shops not only all the forenoon, but all the afternoon, too"? He pities and scorns them, lamenting their "moral insensibility." He displaces enmity for urbanization onto the urbanized (er, New England town-dwellers) themselves.

I didn't sense an interest in (or tolerance for) balance between nature/society. Thoreau presents false choices. Which makes for an exasperating read.

My priors: this is the first of Thoreau that I have read. I know little about transcendentalism.

[Carmo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Como nunca tinha lido Thoreau e tinha este PDF à mão - que até é uma coisita pequena - decidi experimentar este autor de quem há muito ouvia falar. O que não estava à espera é que fosse, literalmente, um livro sobre caminhadas. Daí não viria nenhum mal; já há alguns anos que sou adepta de caminhadas, quer em grupo, quer comigo própria. São a minha terapia e concordo com tudo o que aqui foi dito a propósito. Depois, o autor alonga-se numa exaustiva reflexão sobre o modo de vida das sociedades modernas, o cada vez menor contacto com a natureza e consequências. Aqui começou a ficar muito radical e cansativo. É que eu gosto muito de ir para a praia ou para o campo caminhar,mas não prescindo do meu banho quente e do meu sofá fofinho. Tomar banho no charco com os sapos e comer só o que produzir na hortinha já é pedir muito.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised to find Thoreau's attitude somewhat... extremist (from what I had gathered about the author, I was already expecting, at least, a great deal of zeal). Thoreau's passion for walking and the natural world are evident throughout, possibly a revision of the wording at certain points in the essay could have avoided or limited the superior and judgemental vibe I sensed, particularly in the first half of the book (this was quite unfortunate as Thoreau made many valid points).

I had planned on reading Walden next. Perhaps I'll hold off a while, purely in the hopes that a time delay will help me get into it with fewer preconceived notions.

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoreau longs for drone surveillance if only to greater appreciate the Lord’s broad strokes. This isn’t about the peripatetic but rather serial dualities. You know, worlds Old and New. Farmers and Poets, testaments to all things green, at least greenish.

[iva° · Rating 4 out of 5]

mislim da je thoreauov glas danas aktualniji no ikada, ne samo radi spasa Zemlje, nego i radi spasa zdravog razuma.

[Roberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoreau, filosofo statunitense, scrive poco prima di morire nel 1862 “Camminare”, una raccolta di pensieri elaborati e scritti durante le sue lunghe escursioni solitarie nella natura selvaggia.

Nel piccolo libro cerca di trasmettere al lettore il desiderio di immergersi nella foresta e nella Natura per allontanarsi dalla vita di società, da tutto ciò che sia stato contaminato dall’uomo, dalla fretta, dai ritmi frenetici, anche a costo di disubbidire alle norme e alle costrizioni della società stessa.

Per Thoreau però il contatto con la natura non è sufficiente: bisogna camminare, per ore, tutti i giorni. Non per fare esercizio fisico, ma per staccarsi completamente dai propri (inutili) pensieri quotidiani arrivando a guardarsi dentro, di entrare in sintonia con le piante, i minerali, gli animali. Insomma bisogna camminare per realizzare un legame con la natura tutta e quindi, di conseguenza, con la propria essenza.

Thoreau non si interroga solo sulla Natura, ma anche sull’importanza del sapere e della conoscenza, chiamata ignoranza costruttiva, diversa dall’ignoranza, detta conoscenza sterile.

"L'ignoranza di un uomo è talvolta non soltanto utile, ma bella, mentre il cosiddetto sapere è spesso ancor meno che utile, e decisamente brutto. Con quale uomo è preferibile avere a che fare, con uno che non sa nulla di un argomento e, cosa estremamente rara, sa di non sapere nulla, o con uno che ne sa realmente qualcosa, ma pensa di sapere tutto?"

Oggi siamo abbastanza abituati a questo modo di pensare "ecologico". Ma nel 1832, questa era una visione decisamente diversa, controcorrente e avveniristica.

Camminare quindi. Per elevarci spiritualmente, per riflettere, per scappare anche, perché no, dai nostri problemi quotidiani, spesso banali. Gioire di ciò che c’è di vero e di incontaminato (anche se ormai di incontaminato c’è pochino…) e godere di ciò che non appartiene a nessuno.

Sembra facile…e potrei chiudere qui.

Ma… Non posso non esprimere qualche dubbio in merito. Possiamo immaginare oggi (forse negli USA nel 1800 si poteva) una società di individui che lasciano la società e le sue regole per integrarsi nella Natura incontaminata? E’ meglio fuggire (perché di fuga si tratta) o combattere e migliorare le condizioni della convivenza civile? E’ necessariamente vero che sempre, proprio sempre, il progresso sia negativo?
Va bene, caro Thoreau, la tua visione mi piace, è romanticamente ineccepibile e mi ha fatto riflettere molto. Ma forse, oggi, la considero un pochino utopistica.  

[Cyndi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently read an article that said Thoreau lived about a mile and a half from his family home for his hermitage. So he wasn't far from civilization during his time in Walden woods. He also had lots of visitors. So here's my point, the beginning of this book says that Henry David Thoreau walked 30 miles a day. And I think to myself, "Hmmm. Men never make good shopping lists. Otherwise he would not have had to make so many trips because he forgot to buy milk, eggs, bread, etc." I know. I'm brilliant at looking at the big picture. hahaha!
Anyway I joined the masses while listening to this book and hit the pavement. I walked, I observed the things around me and enjoyed listening to his opinions on stuff. So lace up your sneakers and start walking. But, take your list with you, 30 miles is ridiculous.

[Nicola Balkind · Rating 1 out of 5]

7 in 7 readathon book #4. A big meh. Starts well, then he goes off on one about civilisation and society. Doesn't really stick to the topic of walking at all. Too bad.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoreau at his very best! ❤ Reading this was like accompanying him on one of his walks. There were so many beautiful passages, I kept looking for a sympathetic ear to share them with! Here are just a few of my favorites...

If you would get exercise, go in search of the springs of life. Think of a man’s swinging dumb-bells for his health, when those springs are bubbling up in far-off pastures unsought by him!

I believe in the forest, and in the meadow, and in the night in which the corn grows. We require an infusion of hemlock spruce or arbor vitæ in our tea.

Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps. When, formerly, I have analyzed my partiality for some farm which I had contemplated purchasing, I have frequently found that I was attracted solely by a few square rods of impermeable and unfathomable bog—a natural sink in one corner of it. That was the jewel which dazzled me. I derive more of my subsistence from the swamps which surround my native town than from the cultivated gardens in the village...Yes, though you may think me perverse, if it were proposed to me to dwell in the neighborhood of the most beautiful garden that ever human art contrived, or else of a dismal swamp, I should certainly decide for the swamp. How vain, then, have been all your labors, citizens, for me!

My spirits infallibly rise in proportion to the outward dreariness. Give me the ocean, the desert, or the wilderness!

Where is the literature which gives expression to Nature? He would be a poet who could impress the winds and streams into his service, to speak for him; who nailed words to their primitive senses, as farmers drive down stakes in the spring, which the frost has heaved; who derived his words as often as he used them—transplanted them to his page with earth adhering to their roots; whose words were so true and fresh and natural that they would appear to expand like the buds at the approach of spring, though they lay half smothered between two musty leaves in a library,—aye, to bloom and bear fruit there, after their kind, annually, for the faithful reader, in sympathy with surrounding Nature.

We had a remarkable sunset one day last November. I was walking in a meadow, the source of a small brook, when the sun at last, just before setting, after a cold grey day, reached a clear stratum in the horizon, and the softest, brightest morning sunlight fell on the dry grass and on the stems of the trees in the opposite horizon and on the leaves of the shrub-oaks on the hillside, while our shadows stretched long over the meadow eastward, as if we were the only motes in its beams. It was such a light as we could not have imagined a moment before, and the air also was so warm and serene that nothing was wanting to make a paradise of that meadow.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real rating - 2.5

I'm conflicted on this one. Here and there are some genuinely interesting notions, but they get lost in a parade of Thoreau's elitism. He just goes on and on about how special he is and how lost other people are. A lot of the text is dedicated to mere personal preferences. He doesn't really build a case for a naturalistic or wild lifestyle, he just talks about how much he likes that kind of stuff and how much he detests towns and civilization.
In that way, this book is probably going to be enjoyable for people who already share his mindset. Even then, I don't think there is much of substance to be found here.

Sometimes Thoreau says something that really hits home, and it's moments like these that redeem the book for me. The lines concerning private property specifically caught my attention. I'd been feeling similarly and he expressed exactly that feeling. I also can't help but praise how well written this is. While it lacks substance, this is overflowing with style. It doesn't save the book, but it does make it extremely readable.

I've seen other people say that Walden is just this, but better. I haven't read Walden yet, but if you are interested in this book, I'll defer to their judgment and say to just read Walden.

[J Dride · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When sometimes I am reminded that the mechanics and shopkeepers stay in their shops not only all the forenoon, but all the afternoon too, sitting with crossed legs, so many of them -- as if the legs were made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk upon -- I think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide long ago."

I usually read from this at least a few times a month. One of my all time favorite Thoreau pieces. His wit and critiques are spot on; as per usual with Thoreau. The quote above (along with the rest of the piece) often makes me question what I am doing with my life. Were we really made to sit around all day at desks? It makes me long for nature and question what society has become. A great piece that all should read!

[The Frahorus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leggere un testo che parla dell'esercizio fisico (e non solo) come il camminare è sempre piacevole, poi se fatto da uno specialista e amante della natura come Thoreau ancora meglio. Lo consiglio a tutti, anche ai più pigri, perché la Natura ci chiama nel suo regno, ci invita ad esplorarla.

[Eloise · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are the 7 lessons I got from the book:

1. At the beginning of the book, the author states that walking is for those who are willing to leave their families behind and have their affairs in order, as it grants them the freedom to embark on prolonged adventures. From this, I understand that while we all have a home—a place where our hearts reside—we can also be independent and pursue our true callings.

2. He also mentions that some people aspire to walk as he does, but he believes that becoming a walker is an act of God and a gift that is bestowed. He further states,

"No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom, and independence which are the capital in this profession."

In my observation of life so far, individuals who engage in frequent walks in nature do so because they have an intrinsic calling for it. They make time for it and do not simply leave it as wishful thinking. On the other hand, those who are not naturally inclined towards it would need to plan for it. Perhaps, some individuals do not truly desire the act of walking itself (otherwise they would already be doing it), but rather, they yearn for the freedom and independence that come as intangible gifts from engaging in activities they love.

3. He emphasized the importance of well-being. He states that he must walk for at least 4 hours a day and criticizes those who lead a sedentary lifestyle, suggesting that it is almost self-destructive to not engage in physical activity. Additionally, he highlights the significance of obtaining sufficient sleep at night and even cites the discovery of actinismo as evidence to support his argument.

It’s interesting how these 2 practices (walking, sleeping) are the center of many discussions around health and well-being in modern times but Thoreau understood this back in the 1800s.

For Thoreau, the air in the mountains feeds the spirit and inspires, and they’re part of growing intellectually and physically. Again, back then he was talking about advice that is currently given to people to preserve their mental health, being out in nature.

4. On being Present. The author expresses alarm when walking in the woods and realizing that their mind is elsewhere, preoccupied with obligations. They question the purpose of being in the woods if their thoughts are focused on something outside of it. He said,

"What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods".

This is a reminder of the importance of being present with oneself, when sharing time with others, during a meal, exercise or any other activity, we may miss the best of those moments if we are not present. It seems that Thoreau used these walks as his form of meditation, reflection on life and introspection.

5. He said: “We would fain [like] take that walk, never yet taken by us through this actual world, which is perfectly symbolical of the path which we would love to travel in the interior and ideal world; and sometimes, no doubt, we find it difficult to choose our direction, because it does not yet exist distinctly in our idea [mind].”

The message conveyed here is about decision-making. Sometimes, we have a desired path or idea in mind, and we can sense it within ourselves. However, we hesitate to make a decision because the entire picture is not clear. For instance, we may want to start a business or a project, but we encounter tasks where we are unsure of what to do. In such cases, it is crucial to create a detailed plan and either learn the necessary skills or, even better, delegate them to others.

He gives the example of the italian Christopher Columbus, who felt a strong calling from the west, he followed and ended leading the explorations that discovered the Caribbean, Central and South America. Sometimes, clarity also comes from spending time with the idea and listening to our intuition, our inner guide.

6. Thoreau said: “Dullness is but another name for tameness” which is another way of saying that boredom is but another name for domestication.

He gives the example of how attractive free and wild thinking can be, as seen in Hamlet and the Iliad. The lesson here is that when we feel bored with our lives or what we do, it's often because we've somehow been subordinated to an external perceived authority, tried to imitate or live the lives of others, or attempted to be someone we're not instead of embracing our true selves.

Another point he makes is that exploring different paths in nature brings variety to his life.

7. He shares: “A successful life knows no law… The man who takes the liberty to live is superior to all the laws, by virtue of his relation to the lawmaker”.

He presents the idea of "taking the liberty", which is empowering because it means that liberty is not bestowed upon us by someone else. Additionally, the most powerful form of liberty is living in alignment with ourselves, which can have a transformative impact on our environment, surpassing any laws.

Henry David Thoreau's ideas were ahead of his time. He found freedom and inspiration by being in nature, and he also translated that into individual freedom. This led him to write books that inspired social movements of great significance in the history of the United States of America.

[muthuvel · Rating 3 out of 5]

"There is a keen enjoyment in a mere animal existence."

In addition to their typical saying that reading takes one to noble atmosphere and newer realities, certain books demand prerequisite atmosphere to read them in the first place among other categories. I'd like to assert that most of the works of Thoreau belong to this category.

Lately I've become a bit sceptical with works of sheer romance showering platonic love for the deep woods, barbarous coasts and the remotest whereabouts. It strikes a bit similar to what Sartre wrote on the ways we can delude ourselves keeping reason on our side, here reason getting replaced by romanticism especially at the parts where Thoreau parted ways with the tradition of east west dichotomy and brought the wild west rhetoric and advent of new world, a romanticized colonial term, to feed the hunger inside of the people who bored themselves to death by civilization. With specific worldviews and value judgements, such sheer love affair for the wild could make a lot of chaos and would give you we-live-in-a-society vibes in the opposite sense.

On the positive side, Walking is lucid. Walking could make us humble despite the illusion of learning and knowledge that we think we have of living and dying. At the same time, Walking could take you to a world that never was. Nevertheless it makes you earn for such possible  past to have existed so you could linger over it.

Came for the romanticism and stayed for the lucidity. And yes, just like Rousseau's.

Walking (1861) ~ Henry David Thoreau

[B. Han Varli · Rating 4 out of 5]

yaşam yabanıllıkla uyumludur. en yabani olan en yaşam dolu olandır. insana henüz boyun eğmemiş varlığıyla onu tazeler. harıl harıl çalışan, hiçbir işten kaçmayan, hızlı gelişme gösteren ve yaşamdan beklentileri bitip tükenmeyen biri, kendini mütemadiyen yeni bir ülkede ve yabanıllığın ortasında hayatın en ilkel hali tarafından kuşatılmış olarak bulur. muhtemelen el değmemiş ormanlarda ağaçların yorgun gövdelerine tırmanıyor olacaktır.

yürümek, 8.5 TL'ye herhangi bir kitapçıdan alınabilen bir kitap. internette ise 4.5 TL. dört buçuk. ben geçen gün dört liraya sakız alamadım. demem o ki bu bir mucize, bence kötü ev sahipleri stoklayıp zamanı gelince size kiralamadan önce mutlaka almalısınız.

"yürümek", "bir kış yürüyüşü", "gece ve ay ışığı" olmak üzere üç ayrı anlatıdan oluşuyor kitap. insan görmek istemiyorum, o rezil canlıya bir dakika daha tahammül edemeyeceğim gibi bir ruh halinde, kendinden uzaklaşmış okurlar tarafından tercih edilebilir.

yürümek, yola çıkmanın en temel hali. kendi içinize dönmeye zorlanırken, yürümenin gizli sanatını öğreniyorsunuz adeta.

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't want to meet Thoreau in real life.
"Which is the best man to deal with—he who knows nothing about a subject, and, what is extremely rare, knows that he knows nothing, or he who really knows something about it, but thinks that he knows all?"
Thoreau is the latter. But this little book has several enjoyable, ranty, insights.

"He who sits still in a house all the time may be the greatest vagrant of all; but the saunterer, in the good sense, is no more vagrant than the meandering river, which is all the while sedulously seeking the shortest course to the sea."

"When a traveler asked Wordsworth's servant to show him her master's study, she answered, "Here is his library, but his study is out of doors."

"What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?"

He harshly rebukes that person that sits at three in the afternoon as if it is three in the morning. I read these wise words at three in the afternoon in my favourite armchair.

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Αν και έχω εδώ και πολύ καιρό τα "Walden", "Περιπλανήσεις" και "Πολιτική ανυπακοή", η πρώτη μου επαφή με το έργο του Χ. Ντ. Θορό έμελλε να είναι το "Περπατώντας", που έπεσε στα χέρια μου πριν λίγες μέρες. Αυτό είναι από τα τελευταία κείμενα που έγραψε ο Θορό και πιθανότατα συνοψίζει όλη του τη φιλοσοφία γύρω από τη Φύση και τη ζωή του σύγχρονου ανθρώπου. Το βιβλιαράκι αυτό μιλάει περισσότερο για τη Φύση και τη θέση του ανθρώπου στον κόσμο, παρά για το περπάτημα αυτό καθεαυτό, αλλά όπως και να'χει το περπάτημα είναι το καλύτερο μέσο για να έρθει κανείς σε επαφή με τη φύση και προσωρινά να απομακρυνθεί σωματικά και πνευματικά από τα "επιτεύγματα" του σύγχρονου πολιτισμού. Δεν θα ισχυριστώ ότι κατανόησα σε βάθος τον φιλοσοφικό μονόλογο του Θορό, μιας και αρκετά συχνά ο νους του ξεφεύγει από δω και από κει, όμως αναμφίβολα πρόκειται για ένα σημαντικό κείμενο που έχει να πει πολλά πράγματα και στους ανθρώπους της σημερινής εποχής. (7.5/10)

[Metin Yılmaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yürümenin değerini bilen biriyim ama sanıyorum bu kitapta bir şeyleri göremedim ya da anlatılanları özümseyemedim. Bir yerde bir yanlışlık oldu ama çözemedim. Kitaptan ne yazık ki keyif alamadığım gibi anlatım dilini de sevemedim. Fakat bu benim okuduğum ruh hali için geçerli olabilir. Çoğu kişi iyi şeyler söylemiş kitapla ilgili o yüzden bir şans verilebilir. Zaten seksen küsür sayfalık bir kitap olduğu için çabuk bitiyor fazla zaman harcamamış oluyorsunuz.

[Meli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me conmueve mucho Thoreau, literalmente. Su forma de ver el mundo y la vida, si bien no siempre coincido con él, me maravilla, me deja pensando, a veces me hace llorar.
Lo amo.