Rating  - I'd buy it just for the introduction
Walden, of course, is a timeless classic. I've read it in its entirety several times, and I keep this book at my bedside so I can flip to my favorite chapters, Solitude, The Ponds, Winter Animals, Spring, etc., any time I wish. Only Thoreau can end a book with the sentence "The Sun is but a morning star". About the only thing I am not that crazy about in this book is the first chapter "Economy", it seems to me that Thoreau just spent a little too much justifying his living at Walden, why he tells a story about himself, etc.
As to this book, you have Walden and a few famous short essays (Civil Disobedience, Life without principle, etc.) in their entirety. Do not expect much from the excerpts from other works (A week, the Maine woods, Cape Cod and the journal), they merely give you very fragmented glimpses of them. However, there is an excellent introduction by J.W. Krutch, very scholarly written and fun to read. I think this alone is worth the price (and you get "Walden" to boot!).
Rating - FIVE STARS FOR THE GIRL IN WYOMING!
I have no intention of reviewing the writings of Thoreau. The way I figure it is this : if you don't "get it" (and the world around us clearly testifies that few do), I'm not about to explain it. Besides, several other reviewers here have already done a very admirable job of excavating and cataloging the rich treasures that constitute the thoughts of Concord's timeless, self-professed "mystic, Transcendentalist, and natural philosopher."
I included this book in one of my Listmania Lists a while back, and was surprised to suddenly notice its low average grade today. I came to read the reviews and find out what's gone wrong here, and in doing so, I happened upon the review by the young lady from Rock Springs, Wyoming. Back in the year 2000, she gave 'WALDEN AND OTHER WRITINGS' one Star; titled her review, 'Dumb!'; stated that she "hated this book entirely"; and called for the start of an "anti-Thoreau campaign for students."
But it was her opening sentence that literally caused me to burst out laughing. Unquestionably and by a good margin, this is the funniest thing that I've ever encountered on the Amazon website. Actually, it's almost too perfect to be true. And yet, there it is. It provided me with the best laugh I have had in some time. If you don't appreciate the writings of Henry David Thoreau, then surely you will not appreciate the irony of her statement, but for those of us whose lives have been enriched by the New England SAUNTERER and NONCONFORMIST, this is just too "delicious!" Our Wyoming friend began her diatribe on Thoreau with this classic sentence :
"I HAVE TO MAKE THIS SHORT SINCE I WILL BE GOING OUT WITH MY BOYFRIEND FOR A 4:00 DATE AT McDONALD'S."
"I went to the fast food establishment because I wished to eat inexpensively,
to acquire only the essential promotional toys of a Happy Meal,
and see if I could not keep down what they had to serve,
and not when I came to die, discover that I had not removed the plastic wrap...
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of Chicken McNuggets...
to forgo the hot dog in favor of a Quarter Pound of greasy, round-molded meat
and to put to rout all that was not delivered in under 60 seconds."
-- Henry David Thoreau
'WALDEN' (21st Century edition); chapter II
Rating  - The positive reviews here say much about their authors...
Lets cut to the chase, shall we? Academics and intellectuals like things written by other academics and intellectuals. They like "classics". Truth be told, this little tome is nothing but elitist, precious, fuzzy-minded rambling. Thoreau's poetic and mystical insights into "living off the land" are laughably naive and out of touch to anyone who has truly worked the land or lived in poverty. Its one more example of an intellectual "slumming" as some sort of lifestyle experiment...then writing about it in a gratingly self-congratulatory way. Wow, look at me, I lived here for TWO years! Did I mention that I built the cabin myself? Did I mention how cheaply I built everything? Did I mention how I sat for hours on end doing absolutely NOTHING? Did I mention how I walked into town everyday for supplies? Sure, Thoreau helped his family in their pencil making business, and thus wasn't materially rich, but why do his books only really appeal to well-off white folks? Because truly poor people know the reality of poverty. When all the poetry is stripped away, pretty though it may be, one is left with a self-indulgent fantasy about Thoreau's high concept and relatively low risk vacation.
Rating - Obsolete Editions
Teachers and Thoreau fans beware: this anthology contains heavily redacted versions of Thoreau's works and is not a reliable textual source. The version of _A Week_ is missing huge chunks of vital material, though the editor claims that he has included a complete version. Many titles and smaller details are wrong as well. The source editions for this anthology are pre-WWII. Much has changed for the better in the interim, and you cheat yourself by not ordering a more recent anthology--the Library of America one is excellent, textually impeccable.
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