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A little something we
like about Henry:
Thoreau, famed naturalist and father of American environmentalism, accidentally set fire to the woods outside of Concord while trying to cook some fish. Though he and his traveling companion, Edward Hoar, tried frantically to put the fire out on their own, approximately 300 acres burned before it could be completely extinguished with a great deal of help. Needless to say, he felt really, really bad about that.
(From thoreausociety.org) Henry David Thoreau was an American author, philosopher, and naturalist who was part of the Transcendentalist movement. He is best known for his "Civil Disobedience" essay, which he wrote after spending a night in jail for not paying the poll tax; and for his two-year retreat to Walden Pond, detailed in his second book, Walden, or Life in the Woods.
Thoreau may be the most quoted American author. Excerpts from his writings surface in American thought, conversation, even on t-shirts, posters and greeting cards. His words reach out to us across time and inspire us to think for ourselves.
(From Wikipedia) Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism.
His literary style interweaves close natural observation, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore; while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and "Yankee" love of practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time imploring one to abandon waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.
He was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the Fugitive Slave Law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thoreau died on May 6th, 1862 and is buried in Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Concord.
Read more about Thoreau: The Thoreau Society Wikipedia - Thoreau Walden Pond
a little irreverent. a lot of fun.
