Henry D. Thoreau

I have been to Walden Pond. Once, in person, and many times since in my mind, as a retreat from the cares of my world. It was my first and only time in Boston, visiting my Brother. A rainy day, we had a plan to briefly stop at the pond, see the cabin, visit the welcoming center and move on to the next adventure. However, when we got there, I found that I couldn't leave without trekking around the entire pond. Most of the party waited in the van at the shore, anxious I assume, to move on. Yet, I walked and sensed and felt. Thoreau describes the location as "earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature." I have seen prettier ponds. I have hiked more scenic trails. Yet, I have never left a place of nature so touched by its serenity, history and meaning. Walden may not be reverential to every visitor on every day, but on that day I was filled and I hope that all can sense some of what Thoreau meant when he said: "Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth." I have created a picture book, or some call it a coffee table book that captures the heart of Walden, in a more readable format. I have combined it with pictures, annotations and other insights into Thoreau's life at Walden Pond. Before you purchase the book, you can see all of the details at www.ContemplateBooks.com. Here are a few excerpts from the book: "Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the cares and coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them." "The majority of men lead lives of quiet desperation." "In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line." "Sometimes, on Sundays, I heard the bells, the Lincoln, Acton, Bedford, or Concord bell, when the wind was favorable, a faint, sweet, and, as it were, natural melody, worth importing into the wilderness."

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