Environmental classics, in print and online
In August, I visited the lovely and evocative Walden Pond, where I examined a replica of Henry David Thoreau’s cabin, strolled along the shore to his original homesite in the woods, saw and heard commuter trains across the water, and watched a kayaker and swimmers brave the early morning chill. On the plane ride east, I had begun re-reading “Walden”, considered by many to be America’s first environmental classic text. Published in 1854, it sold poorly during the author’s lifetime, but since then has appeared in more than 200 editions. Readers today are faced with a dilemma/opportunity: which edition to choose.
Style-wise, my favorite has illustrations by Thomas Nason. Info-wise, there are several annotated editions, and also versions with introductions by such writers as Joyce Carol Oates, Edward Abbey, and Bill McKibben. If you want a lightweight edition, there’s a Bantam Classics paperback with an introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch. And there are various digital copies, of which I recommend the editions available to Stanford affiliates through ebrary.
Check out SULAIR’s offerings at ebrary. Use the “advanced search” tab, with title “Walden”, to locate particular phrases in the text, e.g. “lives of quiet desperation,” “castles in the air,” “cats in Zanzibar.” With digital books, you don’t have to flip pages to find these passages. Just enter your search terms, and let the computer hone in.