Never before have I been so struck by a piece of writing. Rosenwald's writing style is magnificent . . . really drawing the reader into his arguments concerning Emerson. If you haven't read this book yet, you are not a true scholar.

Dr. Robinson is my professor here at Oregon State University in the English Dept., and I just admire him so much. I don't think that a better job could have been done with the works of Emerson. It is easy to read and understand; there are no tricks about it. I urge everyone who ever wanted to know more about Emerson to indulge themselves in this fine work by Dr. Robinson.

This book is amazing. Emerson has been noted as being the greatest American thinker of his time and it is no doubt as to why this is so. He has a wonderful mind and his words and ideas just flow so eloquently in his works. Emerson's philosophy has been "Do not seek answers outside yourself." It is all found within. The soul is one of the only absolute truths existing in this world. Emerson's belief in Transcendentalism further entertains ideas such as these. It's a wonderful book and it is exactly what our superficial world needs in order to put higher thinking and intuition above material desires.

of emerson's essays, im just going to point out that this book is very light weight, has very high durability, and is printed in a 'just right' size font... I know that these seem like little things, but you have to understand, once you read emerson's essays, you will want to re-read it, so light-ness and easy-to-readness are factors in your purchase and this version is very good for that.... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this paperback version, for this price.

About the content... Well, this is the one and only book where I could honestly, say that I support everything and stand behind everything the author claims... My heart is completly in-line with his writings. Or rather, everything he said made sense, in a balls-to-bone sort of way. This book has essays that empowers you, sort of like Anthony robbins, but in a much more stronger way, because its not based on 'practical habits', or 'positive thinking', but an exploration on the incredibleness of the human soul, that are more than just thought provoking...They are inspiring, not in just an example-giving kind of way, or "you could be like this" sort of way... It is simply truth, as one man saw fit, in a most honest, clear, and literate way. Even Nietszche was in total awe of everything Emerson wrote, saying emerson's soul was basically something in the heavens.

Yes, transcendentalism is the label to his philosophies, but Emerson doesn't really write "philosophies", he simply writes (with mathmatical like precision), his ideas about man, that start without any prior knowledge or terms necessary to read it.. It is as clean and laser-like in his explanations, and it has the strength of a mathematical proof, and has the heart and sincerity that truly makes the soul of the reader come alive, even soar at times.

I've had the pleasure of meeting Mr Knox at the local American Legion where he gave my father a copy of "The Emperor's Angry Guest". I've read many books, and there are few which I literally couldn't put down, this is one of those books. I'm not a veteran, but know many. I've found, for the most part, they won't let you inside their mind. Mr Knox shares his experience with the reader in a way which puts you back in your chair. It's a "must read" for any history buff or veteran who may have felt abandoned by his country.

Well, here is another great book by Emyl Jenkins! She covers in detail the history of American reproduction furniture from the 1850s through the 1920s. The chapters give detail descriptions of the various periods of furniture design and instruct the reader in how to determine good and bad design. A great book that is well worth buying.

I read this book for the first time ten years ago and have read it at least twenty times since then. Each time I read it I discover something new as if reading it for the first time. It completely changed my thinking and therefore the way I live my life. I see life and existance from a different perpective and value my life and others a lot more. I feel closer to God and His creation and try to get as much as I can from life each day. I've learned not to take my existance for granted. So, I guess you can say that "yes" I do love the book. I'm presently trying to get a new copy due to a friend not returing it to me. I guess that says my friend loves it too. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to share this and hopefully open someone else's spiritual eyes. As A matter of fact, that's how I got the book also. Enjoy it!!

Adamo gives an account of the days as they are most sensitively passed and the nights as they are most herocially endured. His lines come to life and stand there, blinking and lashing their tails. His words break the print barrier and make their sonic boom within the ear. Ralph's poems arouse and calm us in the contemplation of the extremes of experience that shall come hurtling at us when we step from our safe thresholds.

So don't buy them both (as I see some shoppers have done). Here's what I wrote in my review of the later edition:

Harold Bloom repeatedly names Ralph Waldo Emerson as the great theological architect of the "American religion" in his book of that title. However controversial some of Bloom's other theses may be, there is much truth in his characterization of the Sage of Concord. Probably most of us have been influenced by Emerson, at least indirectly, in far more ways than we realize.

But reading Emerson directly is at once an enlightening and maddening experience: "enlightening" because Emerson was a philosopher in the best sense of the word -- a lover of wisdom -- and "maddening" because he was _not_ a philosopher in any _other_ sense of the word. He was stubbornly disinclined to argumentation or even systematic exposition; his essays read more like sermons than like philosophical arguments; he preferred to deliver himself of his oracular insights without, it seems, subjecting them either to the criticism of other minds or even to the rigors of critical self-reflection, on the view that Reason was an all but infallible source of insight into truth and its objects are known with the same immediacy with which we know that we are awake. (It is a curious view of reason which makes no allowances for improvement of one's understanding.)

As a result of this take-it-or-leave it approach, his writings are all too easy to misunderstand, and for this he must bear much of the blame. For example, his remarks on charity in "Self-reliance" have led some readers to suppose that he was opposed to charity altogether, whereas in truth he believed that we are each of us suited by talent and temperament to be "charitable" to a special class of persons for whom we are therefore _truly_ responsible. Then, too, his remark in the same essay on "a foolish consistency" has been infamously and endlessly misquoted -- but even in its proper context it invites misunderstanding by failing to pay sufficient attention to the non-foolish variety of consistency (which Emerson supposed would take care of itself more or less automatically). Here again, Emerson's account of Reason, in giving so much weight to intuition, leaves strangely little room for reflection.

But in my own opinion, at least, Emerson's insights are genuine, sometimes brilliant, and essentially right, and it would be a shame if the readers who needed him most were unable to profit from his writings merely because he had been needlessly obscure. It would be nice, then, to have from another writer the guidance that Emerson himself was unwilling or unable to provide.

As you've probably guessed by now, that's where Richard Geldard comes in.

In this volume (which is a revised edition of _The Esoteric Emerson_, so don't buy them both!) Geldard does a marvelous job of exposition. He knows his Emerson backwards and forwards, and he sets out the essential features of Emerson's thought in clear and orderly fashion, chapter by chapter.

His essential "take" on Emerson, as you can tell from his title, is that Emerson is best approached as a spiritual teacher. I think this is not only correct but even obviously so; yet it is surprising how few available critical studies of Emerson are actually written from this point of view. At any rate, Geldard's exposition will provide the reader of Emerson with a much-needed "map" of the territory traversed in his writings.

I suspect that Geldard's "map" will make Emerson available to many readers who might otherwise have found him unpalatable. Some readers may, for example, be put off by what seems to be Emerson's extraordinarily cavalier attitude toward tradition in favor of present experience.

But according to Geldard, Emerson's actual meaning was as follows: "We have to break, lovingly, the vessels of our tradition in order to become one with the source of that tradition" [p. 176]. Now, certainly there is a difference in emphasis here with the religious tradition in which Emerson was brought up. But surely this is not far from, say, the Christian doctrine that the scriptures are a closed book unless read "in the Spirit." (Granted, Emerson had much more in common with the Quakers than with the Calvinists in what he made of this point. Nevertheless it is not alien to even the most theologically conservative Christianity.)

Not being a Christian myself, though, I am interested not primarily in reconciling Emerson with Christian theology but in simple exposition of his teaching. And Geldard excels in this regard: in ten straightforward chapters he sets out the essentials of Emerson's teaching and places it into the context of his life. Not bad for 177 pages of text.

There are one or two points on which I wish Geldard had done a _little_ bit more explaining (for example, on the difference between the meanings of "idealism" in its philosophical and its popular senses), since he does not seem to be presuming any prior acquaintance with philosophy on the part of his readers. But this is just nitpicking on my part. (Hey, I have my own favorite hobby horses too.) This is a fine book and it will be of immense value to anyone who wants to understand what in the world Emerson was on about.

This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. I know that many people don't like to read essays of any kind, but all I can say is that Ralph Waldo Emerson is simply different! Nobody has the gift to write essays and analyze life like him.

His words and ideas are so powerful and deep that we soon realize that they didn't come only from a brilliant mind, but also from a warm-hearted soul!

That's exactly what this book is about: Its sentences break through your brain and penetrate right into your soul! Emerson's optimistic view on human beings and life can only reinforce our courage in mankind and, especially, in ourselves!

What else can I say? His speech is direct, he defends all the good values, tell us to have confidence in ourselves and show us that passing through life with dignity is a matter of choice and courage, and that it simply doesn't change with time. It was like this a thousand years ago, it will probably follow the same rules a thousand years f! ! rom now.

This is the book I grab to comfort my spirit when I'm having difficult times... :) It is a guide that make us believe that anything is possible when we really want it! " Self-Reliance ", one of the essays inside this book, is a masterpiece in its own and I believe it should be studied in every high school, instead some of the crap we are usually obliged to read!

This book can shape your spirit and your mind. It is also possibly THE BEST self-help book you could ever own and, yet, a great literary work.

I would rate this book as ageless and I'm sure the future generations will be still interested in it, such as are we in those ancient Greek and Roman texts.

This is precious culture and food for your soul as a bargain! Do not waste more time. READ IT!!!