Walden is dense in places, but even then it’s worth working through. My first reading of it showed me, as an 18 year-old high school graduate, how Ill-educated I was. To get through it that first time, I bought a dictionary of mythology, because I really wanted to know what the guy living in a cabin by a pond had to say. I turned my resolve up to high and waded my way through it.
For me, the book showed a way to think about how to live. Instead of pushing a barn and 40 acres through life, or a new Volvo and a condo in a rat race, I took Thoreau’s advice to live free from encumbrances. Following his advice to live simply allowed me to see the world, do a good kind of work, and know I always had a home to go back to where I could find peace.
When my career ended (a good career doesn’t mean an easy career; there can be a price to pay), I returned home to the house I built with my own hands by a river where I found solace and healing.
This is a wonderful testimonial to Thoreau's power of inspiration. I'm fascinated by the seemingly infinite number of ways to approach this particular book's messages.
During the 10 years when I traveled internationally about 250 days per year, whenever I visited a new country, I often waited until I got there before I read everything I took with me about a place. It was my way of becoming unjaded about the world and I loved seeing a place fresh, with clean eyes and an open mind. The first document I always opened was a map or atlas of the country. Where were the borders and the border crossings? What was the terrain? Where did the majority of the people live? What work did they do? After a certain amount of time and travel, my mind had fewer blank pages about a place; there were always little scribbles and notes in there from other trips to borderlands and nearby countries, but I never grew tired of exploring new places.
Maps and atlases are such great tools, but some are better than others. The little country of Malawi, in southeast Africa, produced the best national atlas I ever used. (The National Atlas of Malawi. https://a.co/d/3XWZgg4). Before my ten years of constant travel, we lived almost 10 years in southern Africa, and as the chief of party for an aid agency, I used that Malawi atlas so much I wore out my first one, so I bought another which I still own. It had maps of everything: watersheds, literacy rates, mother-child mortality rates, vegetation, religions, terrain, political boundaries, agriculture, everything I wanted to know. I quickly discovered that the lowest mother-child mortality rates corresponded with areas with the highest female literacy rates, which corresponded with the areas where Scottish missionaries established mission schools early on during the colonial era. Those areas also tended to be located in places with higher altitudes. It allowed us to target our work where the needs were greatest, which did not enjoy the same advantages.
I never learned how or why Malawi came to produce such an excellent atlas, but it was a national treasure.
Also, I am waiting with great anticipation for Walden. I don’t remember if it was my third or fourth time through the book that my reading went from work to pleasure. I eventually read all his books and essays, including much of the huge two volume edition of his journals, but I left some sections alone, just so I have something to look forward to.
What a great practice to get to know a place. My fantasy career used to be cartoonist but I think now it’s geographer. Malawi’s map sounds fabulous. Will definitely check it out. I’m interested in how we map or convey encounters with places that don’t fit into neat categories. To explore other ways to be in relationship with our non-human kin -- rather than on the outside looking in. That’s what Walden has me thinking about more than anything else. Granted, this is after one reading, so I’m very curious what effect multiple readings has had on you. The writing is dense in a 19th-century way, yet on rare occasions it bursts open with a lyric description of a hawk’s wings in sunlight.
Contemplating watershed is a big deal. I live in the Columbia River basin in British Columbia, right near the headwaters of this mighty river. As well we are on one of the world's premiere wetlands, home to thousands of migrating bird families. The locals in these neighborhood communities do not take any of this for granted.
I love maps, but admit to some of the ones in this post being rather daunting (and sad). However, it's not helpful to bury my head under a rock so I appreciate the effort you went to bringing us this info Julie.
Thanks for reading, Donna! Lucky you, to live in such a special place. Being in a city that’s not at all far from another sublime place - the Chesapeake Bay - it’s amazing (and a bit frustrating) to see how few people think about watersheds (or think *like* a watershed) here.
thought you might enjoy this map, which used yet another method (and shows there is no such thing as a red or a blue state :). really, we are pretty mauve...
Right? Maps are so eloquent. I didn’t even mention Ian McHarg’s groundbreaking 1960s book, Design With Nature, where he layers a whole bunch of maps - geology, hydrology, soils, etc - to determine where to build and where not. The maps in that book are printed on vellum so you can see them all together.
Walden is dense in places, but even then it’s worth working through. My first reading of it showed me, as an 18 year-old high school graduate, how Ill-educated I was. To get through it that first time, I bought a dictionary of mythology, because I really wanted to know what the guy living in a cabin by a pond had to say. I turned my resolve up to high and waded my way through it.
For me, the book showed a way to think about how to live. Instead of pushing a barn and 40 acres through life, or a new Volvo and a condo in a rat race, I took Thoreau’s advice to live free from encumbrances. Following his advice to live simply allowed me to see the world, do a good kind of work, and know I always had a home to go back to where I could find peace.
When my career ended (a good career doesn’t mean an easy career; there can be a price to pay), I returned home to the house I built with my own hands by a river where I found solace and healing.
I never grew many beans, though.
This is a wonderful testimonial to Thoreau's power of inspiration. I'm fascinated by the seemingly infinite number of ways to approach this particular book's messages.
During the 10 years when I traveled internationally about 250 days per year, whenever I visited a new country, I often waited until I got there before I read everything I took with me about a place. It was my way of becoming unjaded about the world and I loved seeing a place fresh, with clean eyes and an open mind. The first document I always opened was a map or atlas of the country. Where were the borders and the border crossings? What was the terrain? Where did the majority of the people live? What work did they do? After a certain amount of time and travel, my mind had fewer blank pages about a place; there were always little scribbles and notes in there from other trips to borderlands and nearby countries, but I never grew tired of exploring new places.
Maps and atlases are such great tools, but some are better than others. The little country of Malawi, in southeast Africa, produced the best national atlas I ever used. (The National Atlas of Malawi. https://a.co/d/3XWZgg4). Before my ten years of constant travel, we lived almost 10 years in southern Africa, and as the chief of party for an aid agency, I used that Malawi atlas so much I wore out my first one, so I bought another which I still own. It had maps of everything: watersheds, literacy rates, mother-child mortality rates, vegetation, religions, terrain, political boundaries, agriculture, everything I wanted to know. I quickly discovered that the lowest mother-child mortality rates corresponded with areas with the highest female literacy rates, which corresponded with the areas where Scottish missionaries established mission schools early on during the colonial era. Those areas also tended to be located in places with higher altitudes. It allowed us to target our work where the needs were greatest, which did not enjoy the same advantages.
I never learned how or why Malawi came to produce such an excellent atlas, but it was a national treasure.
Also, I am waiting with great anticipation for Walden. I don’t remember if it was my third or fourth time through the book that my reading went from work to pleasure. I eventually read all his books and essays, including much of the huge two volume edition of his journals, but I left some sections alone, just so I have something to look forward to.
What a great practice to get to know a place. My fantasy career used to be cartoonist but I think now it’s geographer. Malawi’s map sounds fabulous. Will definitely check it out. I’m interested in how we map or convey encounters with places that don’t fit into neat categories. To explore other ways to be in relationship with our non-human kin -- rather than on the outside looking in. That’s what Walden has me thinking about more than anything else. Granted, this is after one reading, so I’m very curious what effect multiple readings has had on you. The writing is dense in a 19th-century way, yet on rare occasions it bursts open with a lyric description of a hawk’s wings in sunlight.
Contemplating watershed is a big deal. I live in the Columbia River basin in British Columbia, right near the headwaters of this mighty river. As well we are on one of the world's premiere wetlands, home to thousands of migrating bird families. The locals in these neighborhood communities do not take any of this for granted.
I love maps, but admit to some of the ones in this post being rather daunting (and sad). However, it's not helpful to bury my head under a rock so I appreciate the effort you went to bringing us this info Julie.
Also, I love your watercolor at the beginning of this article.
Thanks for reading, Donna! Lucky you, to live in such a special place. Being in a city that’s not at all far from another sublime place - the Chesapeake Bay - it’s amazing (and a bit frustrating) to see how few people think about watersheds (or think *like* a watershed) here.
thought you might enjoy this map, which used yet another method (and shows there is no such thing as a red or a blue state :). really, we are pretty mauve...
https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/True-Colors-Map.jpg
what a fascinating post overall, Julie! :)
Thanks for reading. Glad you enjoyed it. That is a cool map, thanks!
I love this, such an informative blend of perspectives!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
Very interesting looking at all those maps in context.
Right? Maps are so eloquent. I didn’t even mention Ian McHarg’s groundbreaking 1960s book, Design With Nature, where he layers a whole bunch of maps - geology, hydrology, soils, etc - to determine where to build and where not. The maps in that book are printed on vellum so you can see them all together.
That sounds beautiful!
It’s the coolest.