Jan 2006 - On New Year's day I finished Thoreau's Walden, one of several classics I am trying to get through as time permits.I read this book for a number of reasons, not the least of which is my own interest in nature and solitude. Friends had referred to this book numerous times as something I should check out. I can't believe it took me this long.

The whole work is an interesting study in our relationship to the land and nature. With my own intense technological bent, there was a profound distance between what Thoreau describes as his usual routine and my own. Not just because we are different people in different times, but because of all the things that we now take for granted. At the same time, I felt a kinship with his minimalist approach, probably because my childhood involved a rather bare-bones style of living for many years, and I was always near the woods.

The conclusion of this book is worth rereading several times because it is dense with meaning and inspiration.