Life in the Woods

Reading at the Red Lantern, Fairbanks AK

I recently read Walden by H.D. Thoreau. It was my travel book on my Alaska adventure, and a well suited one I think. In some ways it was much better than I imagined, but in others well....I guess I should start from the beginning.
I don't think I would have liked Thoreau if I'd known him in real life. He seems (though his writing) to have been a bit of a douche bag, and frankly the first couple chapters made him seem pompous and arrogant. I think (at least in his early 30's) that he considered himself intellectually superior to everyone he knew, and apparently he wasn't afraid to say it, or write it in a book for everyone else to know.
The first couple chapters are a rant against society, acquisitions of wealth, fashion and the typical life of people in the 1840's. In one place he says "I have lived some thirty-odd years on this planet, and I have yet to hear the first syllable of value or even earnest advice from my seniors." Ouch. And then he suggests that every person should be content to live in a 3 foot by 6 foot box (too coffin like for me) because that is all one man needs to protect him from the elements! He looked down on fashion in general, and called those interested in it "monkeys."
He was accurate in his observations I think, but his blanketed judgements concerning humanity were a little too harsh. And I don't think he had much of a sense of humor. One of my favorite lines he wrote was "I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion."And I thought that was pretty funny (because I get his point, but I don't think I've ever seen a pumpkin I'd be comfortable sitting on), but I believe he was being quite serious in saying it.
So at this point you'd imagine that either a.) I'd have quit reading the book or b.) I would at the very least not recommend anyone else to read it. But neither is the case.
There were a few hidden gems of insight in the earlier chapters that made the rest of his moaning and whining worth reading, and when he finally got to the part where he was living at Walden Pond, the reading came much easier,and the book came alive. Like I said he was a wonderful observer, and so the rest was actually a really great read. I loved every minute of it. (Especially when I was sitting among hundreds of stranded travelers at the Seattle airport!) It was entertaining, thoughtful, inspiring, thought provoking and not at all like the first few chapters!
Instead of paraphrasing I thought I'd just post a few of my favorite quotes and let that inspire you to either read the book yourself, or at least forgive Thoreau for his earlier comment about old people. Enjoy!

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

"A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life."

"I have, as it were, my own sun and moon and stars, and a little word all unto myself."

"I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time.To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was more companionable as solitude."

"I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for company, three for society."

"A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature."

(I may add more here when I have more time. So check back periodically if you'd like to read more.)