The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861 (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback – Illustrated, November 24, 2009

Thoreau give us a great gift through his level of observation, and his great love and respect for the natural world. His daily observations are as relevant today as when he wrote them in the 1840's and 1850's. It is a true mark of a non fiction writer who can bring us so close to what he saw and felt.

Henry David Thoreau puts self-made pencil to paper on the night table of his self-made cabin in the woods to hone his God-given writing talent. (That is, until Ralph Waldo's "Mr. Self-Reliance" moves back to his parents' house and his mother's complimentary meal ticket, but that's another story. Oh well! All of us are entitled to a little hypocracy in life, are we not?) Back to the real world: this single volume edition of Thoreau's many years of journal entries are surely inspiring, thoughful and just plain good reading, and eventually become the meat and potatoes (sans the meat--he was vegan, before "vegan" was popular) of his world-class essays. His Journal, along with the Holy Bible, will keep me reading about hypocrits and prodigal sons until the Kingdom and Nirvana come. Five stars indeed for Thoreau's Journal creation and the whole cosmos full for God's Word and His Creation!!!

Proust, after reading excerpts of a French translation of Thoreau's Walden, said that, "It is as though one were reading them inside oneself, so much do they arise from the depths of our intimate experience." Indeed, quibble with editor, Damion Searls', selections for this nearly 700 page one volume edition of the Thoreau's Journal -one-tenth the original size - if you see fit, but he seems to me to have caught the heart of Thoreau. Proust might well admire him; at times, one rather thinks one might be reading a translation of Proust:"Dreams are real, as is the light of stars and moon, and theirs is said to be a dreamy light. Such early morning thoughts as I speak of occupy a debatable ground between dreams and waking thoughts. They are a sort of permanent dream in my mind. At least, until we have for some time changed our position from prostrate to erect, and commenced or faced some of the duties of the day, we cannot tell what we have dreamed from what we have actually experienced."The best parts of these "intimate experiences" recorded here are the words of a liminal being, seeing through to some other world by seeing into the world around him so meticulously and yet so profoundly:"Certain localities only a few rods square in the fields and on the hills, sometimes the other side of a wall, attract me as if they had been the scene of pleasure in another existence.""As I climbed the Cliff, I paused in the sun and sat on a dry rock, dreaming. I thought of those summery hours when time is tinged with eternity - runs into it and becomes one stuff with it."The overall effect of the volume is something like drifting down a river in Thoreau's boat (described herein) through mysterious and bewitching purlieus, where mindscape fuses with landscape. One comes away reminded of Thoreau's contemplation of the turtle:"Be not in haste; mind your private affairs. Consider the turtle. Perchance you have worried yourself, despaired of the world, meditated the end of life, and all things seemed rushing to destruction; but nature has steadily and serenely advanced with a turtle's pace."This has been my experience of reading these extracts of a man who said that, "I do not know how to distinguish between our waking life and a dream." He - I along with him - was often gripped by the striking eeriness of simply being alive: "I am living this 27th of June, 1840, a dull, cloudy day and no sun shining. The clink of the smith's hammer sounds feebly over the roofs, and the wind is sighing gently, as if dreaming of cheerfuler days."

Take your time. Sip from this cup regularly and you will be rewarded with sudden astonishing sentences that are startling even though they were framed two hundred years ago.

Choosing to squeeze the best of the lot from Thoreau's 14 volumes of notebooks must have been a massive task, but it gave us readers a massive pleasure in having these morsels put before us, on a "platter" that is over 700 pages long!As a Thoreau acolyte, having this by my bedside as a nightly dose of calm is my evening treat. It is easily a "dipping" book and once in a while, I hit the same page twice in a week...No Matter! It's all good, thought-provoking Thoreau at his best and easily my best purchase of this year.Binding is for the long-haul and the paper is magnificent...smooth and ivory-colored.If you appreciate H.D.T., then by all means add this to your library!

Being the largest single volume of Thoreau's available 2 million word journal (which is itself severely edited from what he planned for publication) This edition is a great place for a reader to start before deciding if they want to go further into the larger Princeton or Dover editions of Thoreau's journal that have multi volumes so you're able to see more of his life and ideas. This is a very compressed version but a great starting point if you're interested in getting deeper into the work of one of the worlds most influential writers.

Lots of botany, ecosystem, swamp stuff in here-I'm not too much into that, and, as I live in California, I'm not that interested in the plant life of Concord, but Thoreau's still cool. Just like with his essays, I definitely like the later entries better. He was just getting better and better when he croaked. To bad.

Life would suck without this journal. Thanks, Henry, for all your wonderful and thoughtful work. A year or more of page-flipping ecstasy awaits the reader. I use the journal as a prompt for keeping my own journal. The work operates on many different levels: a forerunner of modern nature writing, a style guide for budding writers, a philosopher's guide to idealism mixed with common sense. I'm half way into my third reading, and bought both paperback and Kindle.