This is a book review for The Daily Henry David Thoreau: A Year of Quotes from the Man Who Lived in Season edited by Laura Dassow Walls
The first time I remember encountering Henry David Thoreau’s work is when I visited Walden Pond. What I discovered there mesmerized me. In the years since, I’ve come to regard him in high esteem. His writings are elegant, fitting of his time and ours. Maybe more fitting of ours:
“Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things.”
This book of daily quotes introduces Thoreau’s many thoughts and interests in a compact, easy to digest format. He was a naturalist, inventor, activist, businessman, among many other titles. He walked a lot. Observed more. And wrote about everything. This little volume succinctly captures all of that.
Laura Dassow Walls edited the book. Her biography of Thoreau is not to be missed. I love the variety of passages she chose and the way she connected days of his life to the calendar. This feature is obvious in a daily quote book, but still touching as many of the passages related to impactful moments of Thoreau’s life.
I appreciated that only a few of his most famous passages made it into the book. There are only so many times you can read about going “confidently in the direction of your dreams.” Yes, we should all do that, but there are actually far more impactful words which are not as quoted. Walls identifies those and presents them to us.
Of course, there are many passages that are not impactful or even a little moving. These are includes, I suspect, to convey a complete sense of Thoreau.
I do wish there was more to each quote. A little history or a little commentary for each. Just reading the quote felt lacking. Regardless, I love Henry David Thoreau and will return to this book daily for a long time.
