The Illustrated Walden: or, Life in the Woods

“Our life is frittered away by detail. . . . Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!.”

Henry David Thoreau built his small cabin on the shore of Walden Pond in 1845. For the next two years, he lived there as simply as possible, learning to eliminate the unnecessary material and spiritual details that intrude upon human happiness.

Thoreau described his experiences in Walden, using vivid, forceful prose that transforms his reflections on nature into richly evocative metaphors. In a world obsesse...