Cover: Standard Ebooks edition cover · CC0 public domain dedication · source
Walden
or, Life in the Woods
Henry David Thoreau · 1817–1862
Thoreau went to the woods 'to live deliberately', building a cabin at Walden Pond and keeping careful accounts of what a life actually costs. Two years are folded into one cycle of seasons, and the result is a book on economy, attention and freedom that is still uncomfortable to read.
- First published
- 1854
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Reading time
- About 7½ hours
- Translation
- Written in English
Reading time: 106,917 words in Project Gutenberg text #205, Walden only (the essay on civil disobedience excluded), read at 238 words per minute.
Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 9 August 1854.
- simplicity
- economy
- deliberate living
- nature
- solitude
Where to read it
- Read free — Standard EbooksPublic domain text, carefully proofread and produced. · checked 11 Oct 2026(opens in a new tab)
- Read free — Project Gutenberg (with Civil Disobedience)Public domain in the USA; check your local law outside it. · checked 11 Oct 2026(opens in a new tab)
Copyright
- Kenya
- Public domain
- United States
- Public domain
NOESIS hosts no book files. Links lead to the sources named.
Questions for discussion
Thoreau counts the true cost of things in hours of life. Apply his 'Economy' chapter to one thing you own.
'The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.' True today? Of whom?
Thoreau's solitude was a mile from town. What would deliberate living look like in a Nairobi flat?
Member reviews
No member has reviewed this book yet. Reviews come only from members, and a moderator reads each one before it appears.