Walden
by Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau's two years in a cabin by Walden Pond, written as a year: economy, where he lived and what he lived for, solitude, reading, sounds, the pond, spring. It is the American founding text of simple living and self-reliance, dense, funny, preachy and beautiful, and its first chapter on the cost of things in life is still radical.
Read it if…
you want the source of simple living in its original, difficult glory.
Skip it if…
nineteenth-century prose defeats you; try the 'Economy' and 'Where I Lived' chapters only.
Three things you will actually use
- The cost of a thing is the amount of life exchanged for it.
- Simplify, simplify.
- Most people live lives of quiet desperation; choose not to.
Do this first
Calculate the cost of one possession in hours of your life, as Thoreau did.
Our verdict
Difficult, essential, beautiful.
Compare with other Freedom books
How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind
Dana K. White · Freedom
Honest and freeing.
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