Daily Observations

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book, wrote Henry David Thoreau in Walden. Today that book continues to provoke, inspire, and change lives all over the world, and each rereading is fresh and challenging. Yet as Thoreau's countless admirers know, there is more to the man than Walden. An engineer, poet, teacher, naturalist, lecturer, and political activist, he truly had multiple lives to lead, and each one speaks forcefully to us today. Sponsored by the Thoreau Society, the brief, handsomely presented books in this series offer the thoughts of a great writer on a variety of topics, some that we readily associate with him, some that may be surprising. Each volume includes selections from his familiar published works as well as from less well known lectures, letters, and journal entries. The books have been designed by renowned illustrator and book artist Barry Moser. Ronald A. Bosco is Distinguished Service Professor of English and American Literature at the University at Albany, past-president of the Thoreau Society, and chair of The Friends of Walden Pond Committee. Wesley T. Mott is professor of English at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and series editor for the Thoreau Society. Steve Grant is a journalist who writes on natural history and New England heritage topics for the Hartford Courant.