Wood-notes wild

Henry David Thoreau earned immortality for his eloquent prose in Walden, the masterpiece that resulted from his communing with nature at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Less widely known are the journals Thoreau kept for twenty-four years as he walked at least four hours a day in the Concord area. From 1837 until 1861, he carried a homemade notebook as he explored the woods, fields, ponds, and rivers of the area. He took notes as he traveled, revising them at home for his journal, which became his major literary project. First published posthumously in 1906, the fourteen-volume Journal of Henry D. Thoreau shows Thoreau's close relationship with nature, but the Journal runs to a formidable two million words. Taming this daunting literary landmark, Mary Kullberg selects from the Journal, and from Thoreau's other books, essays, and letters, excerpts that create a typical year of Thoreau's nature excursions, clearly illustrating how Thoreau recognized the importance of each natural entity and its relationship to the total habitat, the earth.