What are you reading in 2025?

[rosarugosa]

That does sound interesting, PT.
Kay: that one is on my list, but I haven't gotten to it yet.
IL: I read that one and liked it very much.

[catherine]

I actually read Walden cover to cover last week. I'd never done that before. Thoreau really was the Robin/Dominguez and/or Mr. Money Mustache of his time. He went to visit an Irish farmer and instructed him that if he buys coffee he has to farm that much harder to pay for it. He, on the other hand, thought water was the perfect beverage and drank straight out of Walden Pond. Yet, his "experiment" on Walden Pond was not to make a permanent lifestyle out of subsistence living, but to shake up assumptions about needs and wants, and to elevate the value of just "being" and observing the natural patterns of life and the seasons.

I also found it really fun to learn more about 19th-century New England, which he writes about pretty colorfully--rosa, you in particular might appreciate that, living pretty close to Concord.

However, I must admit that the writing is stiff and archaic compared to how people write today. Still, it was refreshing in a way. The pace of the book and pace of the life he wrote about slowed me down while I read it and for a halo of time after that.

[happystuff]

I will have to re-read Walden at some point, as I wasn't as impressed with it as I thought I would be the first time I read it. While I did like the simplicity and minimalism he was demonstrating, I vaguely remember him being somewhat of a "user" and doing things a tad outside of what he preached. Again, I read it decades ago and could be remembering wrong. I will put it on my re-read list.

[catherine]

I will have to re-read Walden at some point, as I wasn't as impressed with it as I thought I would be the first time I read it. While I did like the simplicity and minimalism he was demonstrating, I vaguely remember him being somewhat of a "user" and doing things a tad outside of what he preached. Again, I read it decades ago and could be remembering wrong. I will put it on my re-read list.

Yes, he didn't necessarily hold himself up to the standards outside the bounds of his "experiment. He was a man about town--living with Emerson for a while and at his own house in Concord. As a philosopher, I think he was just trying to show an example of how people can make better use of their "life energy." He never meant to be like Helen and Scott Nearing or Richard Proeneke (the guy who lived by himself off the land in Alaska).

[rosarugosa]

I have Walden on my bookshelf and I did read it quite a few years ago, but it would probably have a different impact if I read it now. The problem is that I have so many books on my list that I've never read; it makes it harder for me to justify a re-read.

[happystuff]

LOVE Richard Proeneke! Loved watching his video and have at least one of his books (think he wrote two - or his brother did a second after Richard's death??? Can't remember). Made me want to build a cabin out in the wilderness! Or actually - have someone build me a cabin. ROFLOL

[catherine]

LOVE Richard Proeneke! Loved watching his video and have at least one of his books (think he wrote two - or his brother did a second after Richard's death??? Can't remember). Made me want to build a cabin out in the wilderness! Or actually - have someone build me a cabin. ROFLOL

Yeah, his video is amazing. Some people have such single-minded vision!

[Rogar]

I'm not sure I could read Walden again. It was good at the time. I do think about re-reading :Loving and Leaving the Good Life about the Nearings. It was a favorite of their books. Not sure if it's accurate, but I once read that the Nearings were wealthy with family money. I think some of the early self-sufficient pioneers had some white privilege or at least a head start on things. Unlike some of the early homesteaders who went west with everything they owned in a wagon and tried to carve out a living on marginal land while maybe living in a sod house.

[Tradd]

Walden: I had never read it. I got the ebook earlier in the summer for my Kindle, but I’ve only read bits of it yet.

[happystuff]

Yeah, his video is amazing. Some people have such single-minded vision!

Absolutely amazing when one stops to consider he was all alone and set up the camera for all those shots, etc. And watching him build his cabin alone and all the things he made - making it all look so easy!