“I went to the woods because Iwished to live deliberately and see if I could not learn what it had toteach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had notlived.”

So said Thoreau in his famous work, Walden. In1845, the philosopher and follower of Emerson went to live in the woodsnear Walden Pond to discover the “essential facts of life”and to learn to “simplify, simplify.” This book documentsThoreau's thoughts and experiences, his moving and profound takeon life, and his ideas on how to achieve happiness.

Written inan eloquent and poetic way, Walden inspires the reader to eliminateunnecessary details, as did Thoreau. Intermingled with his philosophy,Thoreau writes beautiful poetry, which also inspires and gratifies thereader.

There is not a word out of place in the book. Eachsentence is thoroughly complete, without being too long. The book is awork of art, and nothing short of beautiful, with perfect word choiceand ideas flowing rather than being cluttered - the reader finishes witha sense of completion and closure. In short, a reading career is notcomplete without having read Walden.