Walden

Walden; or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau is one of the best-known non-fiction books written by an American.

Published in 1854, it details Thoreau's life for two years and two months in second-growth forest around the shores of Walden Pond, not far from his friends and family in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau called this an experiment in simple living. Along with his critique of the civilized world, Thoreau makes ample criticism of other issues afflicting society, ranging from Reading and Economy to Solitude and Higher Laws. He also takes a lot of time to talk about the experience at Walden Pond itself, commenting on the animals and the way people treated him for living there, all the while using those experiences to bring out his philosophical positions.

More than a century later, Walden remains a touchstone for Americans seeking to "get in touch with Nature," and is a major cultural icon. It has been parodied in the Doonesbury comic strip, and emulated in Walden Two by B.F. Skinner.

The pond itself is a tourist attraction, as well as a center of controversy over nearby development - thus demonstrating the very tension between natural and man-made pleasures that Thoreau explored in his book.

The chapters of Walden are listed below. Walden is neither a novel nor a true-autobiography, it was a social critique, with each chapter heralding some aspect of our humanity -particularly those of New England- that needs to be brought out or renounced.

Economy
Complemental Verses
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For
Reading
Sounds
Solitude
Visitors
The Bean-Field
The Village
The Ponds
Baker Farm
Higher Laws
Brute Neighbors
House-warming
Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors
The Pond in Winter
Spring
Conclusion

Walden is also a place in New York State: see Walden, New York.

Also a place in Nova Scotia: see Walden, Nova Scotia.

In taxonomy, Walden is the standard attribution for Arthur Hay, 9th Marquess of Tweeddale, Viscount Walden, as in Dull-blue Flycatcher, Eumyias sordida (Walden, 1870).