From blog to book

I was pleased to see the other day that The Blog of Henry David Thoreau is now a book. Editor Greg Perry has a fine eye for the gems to be found in Thoreau’s Journal, and although it’s a pleasure to see them one at a time on his website, I’m sure there are insights to be found from seeing them together. I’ve ordered my copy and look forward to delving into it.

The Journal may be Thoreau’s greatest work, which would made it one of the greatest ever produced by an American. Yet I’m sure there are few readers who will ever burrow through all 14 volumes of the 1906 edition.

But just as Thoreau used the Journal as the source for for his own published works, since his death many others have mined it to create other works. These include I to Myself, Men of Concord, Thoreau’s World, Elevating Ourselves, Of Woodland Pools, Spring-Holes & Ditches, and a couple of projects of my own. I am grateful whenever someone finds a new way to explore the Journal and shed light on a different aspect of Thoreau’s great enterprise.