I’m currently reading The Thoreau You Don’t Know by Robert Sullivan, a book I thoroughly recommend, if you have any interest in Thoreau, transcendentalism, 19th Century literature or modern ecological movements. I’m relishing it as my current “slow reading” project. Among things I’ve learned about one of the heroes of my youth: 1) his name was pronounced to rhyme with “thorough,” not “thu-ROE,” 2) Emerson was a bit of an annoying git, and 3) Thoreau was not a hermit, yearning to get away from people. Thoreau shines forth as a much more human, accessible and relevant figure through Sullivan’s exploration.
The book is inspiring me to re-kindle one of my earlier ideas for this blog (don’t bother looking for it, as I did not get around to posting anything about it, as is my wont). The idea is to “take walks” in my immediate neighborhood and record the experience in photography, poetry and prose. I can’t promise Thoreauvian heights, but it might be mildly entertaining, especially if I can discipline myself to get on with it. I’ll call this series, if I can get it off the ground, The Neighborhood Naturalist.
