Walden
Walden first published in 1854 as Walden; or, Life in the Woods) is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and—to some degree—a manual for self-reliance. Walden details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years, two months, and two days in a cabin he built near Walden Pond amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau makes precise scientific observations of nature as well as metaphorical and poetic uses of natural phenomena. He identifies many plants and animals by both their popular and scientific names, records in detail the color and clarity of different bodies of water, precisely dates and describes the freezing and thawing of the pond, and recounts his experiments to measure the depth and shape of the bottom of the supposedly "bottomless" Walden Pond. )
Stats for nerds
49recommend
148mentions
130people
2008–2026years
35% recommend60% neutral5% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Walden, by Thoreau
The Myth of the Machine, by Lewis Mumford
Cloud Hidden, by Alan Watts
Computer Lib/Dream Machines, by Ted Nelson (Technology purpose and arrow)
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L. Shirer
Small is Beautiful, by E. F. Schumacher
- Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
1984, by Orwell
Walden, by Thoreau
Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse
But really, the one that had most direct impact in my life was Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall. Not in my vision of the world but in my lifestyle.
- I didn’t know it at the time but Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I read it in high school and didn’t think it meant much to me. I’ve been rereading it recently and realized a lot of insights and observations it has on living a simpler life are core beliefs I follow. It’s funny reading it again and discovering how great of an impact it had when I originally read it to write a paper for a high school English class.
- there are two: Pirsig's "Zen..." and Thoreau's "Walden...." the quality which is defined is not the quality, and the sun is but a morning star. iykyk. no posturing intended, just answering the d*n question.
- Walden, in which the author, Henry David Thoreau, builds a cabin in the woods and lives there for two years, two months, and two days. He gives up many of modern life’s luxuries and makes some incredibly profound observations on how much unnecessary bloat we have in modern life. It was published in 1854 yet remains relevant.
Henry David Thoreau was part of the Transcendentalist movement, so the book reflects a lot of that philosophy. I am revisiting it after first reading it a decade ago and am finding it really fascinating now that I’m older and have spent a bit of time in the workforce and in society.
- This is the exact problem Thoreau was trying to solve when he wrote Walden, and arguably did solve. Figure out what is actually important to you, and ruthlessly eliminate things from your life that don't contribute towards that.
I get disappointed by seeing how many intelligent, motivated, and energetic people mindlessly put all of their energy into these culturally prescribed goals. Once they achieve them, they will eventually feel disappointed, because it isn't really aligned with them.
Whenever I'm doing something I really enjoy- like exploring nature in a tiny sailboat together with my kid, there is always this nagging narrative in the back of my head that I shouldn't be doing this: I need to be starting another business or working harder, making more money, etc. Then I could be exploring nature in a giant yacht a decade from now! But wait, I don't want that. I can afford a tiny sailboat, and what I want to do is explore with it right now, which I already can do.
I think a deeper aspect is that people also want to feel connected, accepted, and admired by others... and perceive that this requires social status they can only get by winning at some pre-defined life plan. But it doesn't really work that way- the people you would impress by doing your own thing are only the ones you would actually be able to relate to, whose opinion really matters.
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