Walden, or Life in the Woods

In 1857, Thoreau "withdrew from the world" and spent two years in a cabin he built himself on the shore of Walden Pond. The result of his voluntary seclusion was an 18-chapter interconnected essay book "Walden, or Life in the... Woods," which continues to have a tremendous influence on a wide range of youth who hold nonconformist beliefs. "Conscious consumption," the denial of the cult of material prosperity, love and careful attitude towards nature – these are just a few of the ideas that modern society has drawn from Thoreau's book. It is the first book of Western culture in which simplicity and self-sufficiency, intellectual refinement, and closeness to nature are openly offered as a worthy alternative to the "consumer society."