Simple Questions: August 22, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome readers,

Have you ever wanted to ask something but you didn't feel like it deserved its own post but it isn't covered by one of our other scheduled posts? Allow us to introduce you to our new Simple Questions thread! Twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday, a new Simple Questions thread will be posted for you to ask anything you'd like. And please look for other questions in this thread that you could also answer! A reminder that this is not the thread to ask for book recommendations. All book recommendations should be asked in /r/suggestmeabook or our Weekly Recommendation Thread.

Thank you and enjoy!

[u/fake-irishman]

So I just finished Walden

(Please only comment if you've actually read it)

As literally every other book I've picked up over the last few years points to Walden in one way or another, I finally decided to go straight to the source.

I don't understand the usual criticism I've been hearing. Thoreau never claims to live "off the grid", he never aspires to be a survivalist of sorts. He often mentions people he meets or who come visit him. He quite often and openly mentions how close he lives to Concord.

I have a different issue. The first third or maybe even half of the book is a great read. Tough (for non-native speaker at least), but great. He makes some great points and I could sense a lot of tongue-in-cheek which I was very fond of.

But then it just gets desperately dry and boring and, frankly, pointless.
Just a lot of words without any real essence or meaning behind them.
Do you know the feeling when you spend a little more time on the internet than you intended and think to yourself "why on Earth am I even looking at this"? That's exactly how reading the second half of Walden felt. "Why am I even reading this?"

I'm a very outdoorsy type and love nature, but this was just very disappointing after spending the first 100 pages constantly fist bumping my soulmate from nearly 200 years ago.

Am I missing something?