We borrowed this book from the library and I must buy a copy for my 3yr old. He loves it. The illustrations are unique and so pleasing to the eye. They are a little abstract but not too much so you can't see what is being conveyed.

Henry builds a cabin but his friends doesn't think it's big enough. Henry says it's big enough for all kinds of things. In the end, you find out what the cabin is perfect for.

Delightful read and a sure bet for a Baby Shower Gift!

I'm 12 but I really like this picture book. I learned a lot about what Henry Thoreau was trying to do when he built a cabin by Walden Pond, and it was fun learning it through this book. The illustrations are funny and I like how Henry solves his problems. I also like Henry Hikes to Fitchburg, which is even funnier because Henry makes his friend learn a lesson in a funny way. I also recommend another great book about Henrey Thoreau, that especially girls of all ages will like, Louisa May and Mr. Thoreau's Flute. It talks about how Henrey Thoreau helped Louisa May Alcott learn to like the outdoors and learn to like writing. Henry's funny in that book too so I think readers will like it too.

Henry, a sturdy looking bear wearing a large hat and workclothes, is building a cabin in the woods. He borrows an ax and cuts down twelve trees for framing, buys an old shed, takes it apart and uses the wood for the walls and floor. He builds a front door, finds two used windows and some old shingles for the roof. As he's building, friends stop by to look at the cabin and check on his progress. Emerson comments that it seems too small to eat in. "It's bigger than it looks," replies Henry and shows him his garden out back. "When it's finished, this will be my dining room." Friend, Alcott thinks the cabin will be too dark to read in, but Henry shows him a sunny spot right outside. "This will be my library." And when Miss Lydia shows concern that there won't be room for dancing, Henry shows her the pathway down to the pond, his grand stairway to the ballroom. On July 4th, Henry's cabin is finished and he moves in. He eats in the "dining room", reads in the "library" and dances in his "ballroom". When it begins to rain, he hurries back to his cabin, where in a very wise and amusing way he shows us that his new home is just perfect..... D.B. Johnson is back with a marvelous sequel to his award winning first picture book, Henry Hikes To Fitchburg, based on the life of Henry David Thoreau. His simple and inspiring text is sure to be a springboard to interesting and thoughtful discussions. What does a home really need, and how big does it have to be? Mr Johnson's creative and expressive, light-filled illustrations enhance the story beautifully, and capture the imagination. With an author's note at the end "About Henry's Cabin", to help fill in the details of how and why Thoreau built his cabin, its cost, and his two years living at Waldens Pond, Henry Builds A Cabin is an engaging and unique little treasure youngsters 4-8 shouldn't miss. "Most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think they must have such a one as their neighbors have."

Well, do you think that you don't keep up with others when you can not do something which everyone can do?

I would let you know that leave your life. Absolutely, it is not necessary to change your season for keeping up with others. There is certain rhythm to fit you. Sometimes we make ourselves the one with a sense of relief supposing we do the same thing that others do. There is not a way when you go behind someone. Also, when you go with others' shadow.

Of the books that I own, this one is the best prepared and printed. It is also very complete rather than a scattering of selections. I recommend it highly to the curious Thoreau reader.

Four of Thoreau's best works come to life in their full and unabridged versions. Thoreau portrays a land of immense natural beauty, and his keen observations focus on subjects as diverse as native plants and animals to his musings on the peculiar people he meets. Thoreau's revelations on conservation show us he was a century ahead of his time, aware of a landscape and nation which was already irreversibly changing. Yet his simple life at Walden pond shows us that we are perhaps most content with ouselves when we are the most alone and unencumbered. Contains a brief chronology of Thoreau's life which presents us with many previously unknown facts. Each work in this collection has been available before, but the Library of the America's has researched and investigated the most accurate materials and corrected errors contained in previous publishings.

As a young man my Holy Trinity was: Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman. Emerson's essays are pure poetry; Thoreau's "Walden" and "Civil Disobedience" became a blueprint on how to live and why to write; and Whitman's life and "Leaves Of Grass" taught me about myself.

"A Life Of The Mind" filled each page with the authenticity and richness of a life well lived. Thoreau, the humanness, the naturalist, the friend and son; the poet of the unraveling, entangled soul beating within the humdrum of everyday and ordinary life, leaps from every page. I have read other biographies on Thoreau which never captured the mind and writer of "Walden". Here the man and life equalled and qualified the literature.

Richardson is more than a biographer of Thoreau; he's made from the same stock. He didn't simply tell of a man and his life, he savored, and shared in the same poetics and struggles as the man he researched. The theme of Thoreau's life was an opportunity to express his own convictions and struggles.

It was while reading an anthology of Thoreau's work that I first understood why some poets and writers must write. I came to understand how every sentence could be layered with meaning and timelessness. After reading this biography I must reread my annotated "Walden". I must sit in my backyard amongst the leaves and flowers and shapes and densities I've not paid attention to in some time.

If you want to get your mind around Thoreau's mind and the more significant facts of his life, buy and read this book. Because the chapters are brief but meaty, and because Richardson's an accomplished prose stylist in his own right, this book is a joy to read and, I have found, is wonderful to come back to periodically, particularly when looking for a great way to spend ten to twenty extra minutes profitably.

Robert D. Richardson takes the busy-bodied world of Thoreau and places each of his accomplishments into context starting with their respective intellectual origin. In the process of doing this, Richardson constructs the world of Thoreau's Concord and creates it for us vividly and realistically. This is by far the best Thoreau bio out there and serves a perfect book-end with his Emerson bio, The Mind On Fire.

This book contains small quotes and excerpts from Thoreau's work that are absoloutly fantastic. They are very thoughtful but yet easy to understand. I would recommend it to anyone!

This is a fabulous "book" (really, it's brief excerpts from Thoreau's writings). Easy to read. Challenges you to examine how you choose to live your life and inspires you to take control and make your life what you want it to be. ("I do not know how to distinguish between our waking life and a dream. Are we not always living the life that we imagine we are?")

Note: I am not necessarily a "deep" reader. I think I tried to read a Thoreau book once and couldn't make it past the first 20 pages. This book gives you the best of Thoreau's wisdom without all of the hard work of trudging through his full writings.

Take this pocket size book with you everywhere. In On Man and Nature, one can read of Thoreau's more passionate thoughts from his various works. It is truly a book to take for a "pick-me-up" at any time of the day in any place. My personal favorite is ... "Take time by the forelock! Now or never! You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in every moment...."

I'll be honest: I picked this up because I wanted a copy of _Walden_, and getting a selection of Thoreau's other writings was icing on the cake, so if all you want is to confirm that this contains the uncut text of _Walden_, I assure you that it does. For completeness, though, I'll mention everything else in the book as well, with a few quotes to let Thoreau speak for himself.

"Natural History of Massachusetts", 1842 - This isn't what the title might suggest, still less the official subject (given the usual dryness of scientific papers). Like G K Chesterton's Father Brown, Thoreau takes the view that science is a grand thing when you can get it, but that the true scientist should be able to know nature better, and to have more experience of it by noticing fine detail without losing the big picture. "I would keep some book of natural history always by me as a sort of elixir, the reading of which should restore the tone of the system."

"A Winter Walk", 1843 - Exactly that, seen through Thoreau's eyes. "There is a slumbering subterranean fire in nature which never goes out, and which no cold can chill."

"The Maine Woods", 1848 - A year after retiring to Walden Pond, Thoreau took a trip to Maine, recorded herein. Some of the word-pictures drawn include those of the pines before logging - and afterward, when rendered down to matches. But once away from the areas near Bangor, much of the country was still wilderness. "And the whole of that solid and interminable forest is doomed to be gradually devoured thus by fire, like shavings, and no man be warmed by it."

"Civil Disobedience", 1849 - Very influential on Gandhi and Martin Luther King, and quite capable of making a reader squirm even today - if one isn't prepared to back up one's principles with action.

"A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers", 1849 - Not just a travelogue; this is Thoreau, after all, so extra layers of historical discussion and a little poetry are here too. This is a revised and somewhat trimmed version from the original - Thoreau's own later text.

"A Yankee in Canada", 1853 - The beginning of Thoreau's tale of his first journey to Quebec, with a bit of culture shock at his first exposure to a Roman Catholic society.

"Walden", 1854 This would be worth reading if only for 'I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...', re-popularized in these latter days because of its prominence in the film _Dead Poets' Society_, I expect.

"Journal", 1858 - Not Thoreau's entire journal for 1858, but a selection. The complete journal was his collecting-point of raw material - everything from first drafts of letters, essays, and lectures, to a review of every natural detail the trained surveyor had seen that day.

"The Last Days of John Brown", 1860 - Thoreau didn't attend John Brown's memorial service, but wrote this essay, which was read for him. "Now he has not laid aside the sword of the spirit, for he is pure spirit himself, and his sword is pure spirit also."

"Walking", 1862 - "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..."

"Life without Principle", 1863 - "We may well be ashamed to tell what things we have read or heard in our day. I do not know why my news should be so trivial - considering what one's dreams and expectations are, why the developments should be so paltry."

"Cape Cod", 1864 - "The Wellfleet Oysterman" - Thoreau's chat with the elderly oysterman (being asked in after a walk) proves his observation works for human beings as well as the rest of nature - and that he has sense enough to ask somebody who ought to know about nature in the area. "I was fourteen year old at the time of Concord Fight- and where were you then?"

A miscellaneous selection of Thoreau's poems is also included, along with a chronology, bibliography, introduction and epilogue by the editor.

This is a "collected works"-type volume, which I recommend because it gives you the whole package deal, and if you enjoy *Walden* you'll probably want to read more. *Walden*, Thoreau's most famous work, is my favorite book in all the world. Though it is admittedly not for everyone, there is a virtuosity and vibrance to his prose which led one critic to call it some of the best poetry in the English language. In 1845 Henry Thoreau built a small house with his own two hands on the shore of Walden Pond, just outside Concord, Massachusetts, and proceeded to inhabit it for two years, two months, and two days with the purpose of discovering the meaning of life, of paring life down to its most basic elements through self-exploration and communion with nature. Seeing nature through Thoreau's eyes is an experience akin to that of a farsighted person donning corrective lenses for the first time and discovering the extraordinary beauty of things which had been right in front of him all his life. This should be required reading for anyone with any environmental feeling and for anyone interested in self-reliance and personal freedom (which should be all of you). You might want to read "Civil Disobedience" too: people of the ilk of Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. lived by this essay on passive resistance. The introduction and epilog by Thoreau scholar Carl Bode frame the volume well and offer enlightening and apt insights into Thoreau's history and psyche

I was so fascinated by Laura Dassow Walls' unique take on Thoreau that I was inspired to complete my own graduate work on Transcendentalism. Any student of Thoreau will appreciate this innovative look at the old master.

I first heard Laura Walls deliver the concepts contained in this volume at a recent annual meeting of the Thoreau Society. Her presentation was clear and direct, introducing the hearer to the historical personalities that influenced the platform upon which Thoreau based his world view. This book expands the same theme, for it fills in a great deal of minutia that had to be omitted from the ealier presentation. Seeing New Worlds is an important excursion into both the obvious and the subtle influences that shaped the late writings of Thoreau, such as Faith in a Seed, which only recently was made available to students of this enigmatic soul. Congratulations to Walls for a well researched intrusion into a complex mind. Tom Potter

As Tom was forming the images for this book he fell extremely ill. While in a deep and long coma he met Henry and based upon that meeting several of the images in this book were changed. These beautiful images of the Hudson River and in particular Storm King Mountain will haunt and excite you as you consider how this area was formed and has survived man's interference. The essence of this area will be finally synthesized in his next book, The Story of a River. When completed this will give you a private insight into time and ecology not found anywhere else.

Written and illustrated by Thomas Locker, Walking With Henry is a warm and resplendently beautiful picture book based on the life and works of Henry David Thoreau. Majestic painted landscapes showcase simple descriptions drawn from and inspired by the man who loved to walk in the wilderness. Walking With Henry is a highly recommended and heartwarming tribute suitable for young readers of all ages, and aptly serve to introduce the life and work of America's most famous and enduringly popular naturalists.

Thoreau's journals are an insight into the man who thrived on simplicity. This book captures the years in which he was making his final revisions on "Waldon." His journal reflects his masterpiece and his book is then reflected back into his journal writings. If you are at all interested in Thoreau's writings, this is a needed companion to understand such a brilliant mind.

Many readers exposure to Thoreau's published self-contained books like _Walden_ and _The Maine Woods_ are intrigued enough to look deeper. Inevitably, you end up with the Journals.

The journals are so long and copious, that it can be hard to decide where to start. I don't know off-hand how many pages or words there are, but there are enough of Thoreau's Journals out there to last you 3 to 5 years of reading.

So! You should buy this starter book to introduce you to the flavor of the Journals. If you also read some of the Biographies out there, you learn that Thoreau's life went through some distinct periods, which will be reflected in the different Journals. Many folks think 1851 was a magic and expanding year for him, and that's why this book follows this year alone.

My only complaint about the book using this time frame is that it sort of Pornographically selects from all the years of the Journals--and pornographically selects from 1851. As if all T's days were charmed, all rich with experience.

But the Journal selections excerpted here and this book as a whole have many good qualities that outway my only complaint. They are:

1.--This book follows a year, and T was very much influenced by the seasons. Coming full circle in a year with T is good reading.

2.--The book doesn't try to do too much. If an Introduction book does its job, it should leave you wanting more deep info on the subject. This book did that for me.

3.--There are a couple-few cool replications of drawings T did in his journal. Bonus points for these.

Overall, the subject material here is awesome. If you only know Thoreau through his published "books" and if you like them (especially the naturalist part of them), the Journals will change your world. This book does a solid good job of introducing you to the Journals.

This book, edited by Philip Van Doren Stern, is a dream come true for diehard Thoreauvians (like myself). If you think you know everything about Thoreau's Walden, think again. This book is full of fascinating footnotes that shed light on particular turns of phrase and allusions that one thought one had grasped. The footnotes are particularly illuminating in re turns of phrases that have gone out of style. To learn, for instance, that train wrecks and such were commonly referred to as "melancholy accidents" in the papers of the time, lends an otherwise missing mordant wit to Thoreau's criticism of the railroad when he says that "it will be perceived that a few are riding while the rest are run over-and it will be called, and will be, 'A Melancholy Accident'."-Absolutely delightful! Why is this book out of print with so many purported lovers of Thoreau out there?!?

This guide to Thoreau's work is a collection of thirteen essays by academic experts. Its topics include the evolution of Thoreau's reputation, the impact of Concord on his life and views, and the effects of his friendship with Emerson. Other essays discuss each of Thoreau's major works, placing them in the context of his life, his times, and his beliefs. Ronald Hoag's comments on Thoreau's natural history writings (whose topics include such seemingly unpoetic subjects as the dispersion of seeds) are especially helpful. They tie these seemingly disconnected "scientific works" to Thoreau's other writings by illuminating the philosophical threads that unite them. Best of all, most of the essays in this book are superbly written, in contrast to so many academic productions. They are clear, balanced, sensible, straightforward, well informed, and highly illuminating. My understanding and appreciation of Thoreau's work has been greatly enhanced by this remarkable book, which I strongly recommend. If you like Thoreau, you can buy this book with the assurance that it will enhance -- not disrupt -- your enjoyment.