Having read a good portion of Thoreau's diaries, I expected to find little else in this new manuscript. I was wrong. I found more and better observations on nature - specifics on white pine cone seed disbursement is hardly water cooler talk and not for everyone - written in a manner that is interesting and relevant.

Intertwined with the topic of wild fruit and seed information is more of Thoreau's philosophy, that which has driven me to read him for all these years.

If you like Thoreau, you simply cannot fail to read this piece of his puzzle. I can't wait for someone to tackle and publish what remains of his unpublished work.

Finally, I must say that while closing the final page I was struck with a deep appreciation for the immense effort involved in publishing this book, given the quality of his handwriting and the poor organization of the manuscript. It is indeed appreciated.

I finally tried to read On Walden Pond a few Summers ago and I just couldn't force my way through it. I got sick of the way the author kept slamming farmers while suggesting a life of berry picking in the woods as the real way to go. Even the editor that put "Wild Fruits" together says "...in the popular mind..a querulous hermit... ." But then, "Recently the popular mind has had to expand itself to include...a third of his life: the one spent closely observing and eloquently reporting on natural phenomena-Thoreau the protoecologist."

It's enough to be a Prophet but really you need to write that Testament too, "Wild Fruit" is Thoreau's and it is wonderful. More poetic than Walden and less insular this book contains great wisdom and it's fun to read. I'm only 1/3rd through the book but even the 22 page essay on Black Huckleberry alone is justification for reading the whole book.

Emerson said at Thoreau's funeral that "The country knows not yet, or in the least part, how great a son it has lost." I didn't until I started reading "Wild Fruits" and now it's very obvious he's one of the most important Americans to have ever lived.

Legendary nineteenth-century environmentalist, philosopher, and writer Henry David Thoreau has had a profound effect on American literature and ecology. His honest and poetic, down-to-earth writing style has inspired millions, influencing how we think about the natural resources around us. Wild Fruits, the recently published rediscovered text, is a collection of final notes from three years of writing and research (Thoreau died in 1862 just before completing the book). The pages were in storage at the Berg Collection in the New York Public Library until Thoreau specialist, Bradley P. Dean chanced upon them, and began decoding Thoreau's notoriously difficult handwriting. The actual text of Thoreau's Wild Fruits takes up only a fraction of the book-239 of its 409 pages. Dean then includes a chronology of Thoreau's life, other notes Thoreau took during the writing of Wild Fruits, a glossary of botanical terms, and notes on the original manuscript. The elegantly composed chapters catalog the berries and fruits of New England, with beautiful pen and ink illustrations and botanicals. Thoreau's observations leave nothing untouched. His talent for finding beauty in the smallest things is well represented in his descriptions of the flowering of black spruce, the arrivals of thimble berry, and fall bayberry-to name just a few. Thoreau's ability to find the sacred in commonplace is replete throughout Wild Fruits. A favorite passage celebrates seasonal flora and fauna: "Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit...be blown by all the winds. Open all your pores and bathe in all the tides of Nature, in all her streams and oceans, at all seasons." In a time when we spend more and more hours in front of computer screens and on commutes rather then resting beneath birches or walking along river banks, Thoreau provides the inspiration to rediscover nature, and lose oneself in forest, prairie, and mountains. His words to fellow townspeople a century ago are still appropriate to today's populous: "It is my own way of living that I complain of as well as yours, and therefore I trust my remarks will come home to you...we have behaved like oxen in a flower garden. The true fruit of Nature can only be plucked with a fluttering heart and a delicate hand, not bribed by any earthly reward." -Heather K. Scott

Faith in a Seed, a collection of Henry David Thoreau's late nature writings, deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the plant sciences or Thoreau's life and work. This volume consists of four previously-unpublished manuscripts, which the author left uncompleted when he died in 1862. Although compiled of rough drafts, Faith in a Seed is still very readable and enjoyable. Thoreau's last major project, The Dispersion of Seeds, fills most of this book. In it, he describes the seeds of various New England plants, as well as how they are disseminated by way of animals and the elements. The philosopher of Walden Pond roams the woods, fields, and swamps of "a world that is already planted, but is also still being planted as at first." Although this is a scientific work, Thoreau's wonderful voice and way with metaphor permeates every page, making for a very pleasurable read. Of historical interest, Thoreau was one of the first American scientists to embrace Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The idea of an ever-changing earth coincided with Thoreau's own beliefs. He felt that "the development theory implies a greater vital force in Nature, because it is more flexible and accommodating, and equivalent to a sort of constant new creation." In addition to the cornerstone of this book, The Dispersion of Seeds, three shorter selections are included. In Wild Fruits, Thoreau writes about the joys of hunting for wild berries, and teaches that "the value of any experience is measured, not by the amount of money, but the amount of development we get out of it." Weeds and Grasses and Forest Trees elaborate on the ideas of plant propagation and forest succession illustrated in The Dispersion of Seeds. On the whole, I found this book to be a welcome addition to my Thoreau collection. Even in his late years, as he became more and more interested in the technicalities of nature, he still dearly loved the wild; and this comes through in Faith in a Seed. Come, saunter with Henry through dark pitch-pine groves, the huckleberry fields of Fair Haven Hill, and the seedling-lined banks of the Concord River. Discover that "the very earth itself is a granary and a seminary."