The Guide To Walden Pond: An Exploration of the History, Nature, Landscape, and Literature of One of America's Most Iconic Places

The subtitle of this lovely and useful volume is a bit of a mouthful, but it does capture the layers of history this guide suggests in a sort of poetic way: showing just the right images. I liked the peeks into rocks and ancient land formation and the man who lived in a house (he tells us Thoreau preferred that word to “cabin”) overlooking a part of the pond, and guessing why he might have chosen that particular place over others. We get glimpses into work of the time, such as railroad building and cutting ice, as well as a guide to plants, trees, and animals of then and now. The book with short informative segments and gorgeous photos made me eager to get back to Concord to walk and look. Though I felt quite satisfied with this paper tour, too, and its suggestion that looking longer will always lead one to more.

Walden Pond is a magical place, as this book's title states, for history, nature, landscape and literature. Robert "Thor" Thorson is a multi-discipline scholar uniquely qualified to address all of Walden's aspects. He also has a history of running tours of the site. This book is both a guide of the physical space, which the book takes you through, but also gives detailed background in the features and background. Because of that it is a great guide for those who visit Walden and for those armchair visitors who want to know more about the place & its special features.