Walden's Shore: Henry David Thoreau and Nineteenth-Century Science

Thorson, Robert M.

ISBN 10 : 0674088182 ISBN 13 : 9780674088184

Editeur : Harvard University Press, 2015

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

"Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward," Thoreau invites his readers in "Walden," "till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place, which we can call "reality."" "Walden's Shore" explores Thoreau's understanding of that hard reality, not as metaphor but as physical science. Robert M. Thorson is interested in Thoreau the rock and mineral collector, interpreter of landscapes, and field scientist whose compass and measuring stick were as important to him as his plant press. At "Walden"'s climax, Thoreau asks us to imagine a "living earth" upon which all animal and plant life is parasitic. This book examines Thoreau's understanding of the geodynamics of that living earth, and how his understanding informed the writing of "Walden." The story unfolds against the ferment of natural science in the nineteenth century, as Natural Theology gave way to modern secular science. That era saw one of the great blunders in the history of American science--the rejection of glacial theory. Thorson demonstrates just how close Thoreau came to discovering a "theory of everything" that could have explained most of the landscape he saw from the doorway of his cabin at Walden. At pivotal moments in his career, Thoreau encountered the work of the geologist Charles Lyell and that of his protege Charles Darwin. Thorson concludes that the inevitable path of Thoreau's thought was descendental, not transcendental, as he worked his way downward through the complexity of life to its inorganic origin, the living rock."

Revue de presse :

Most people know Thoreau as an environmental essayist, a 19th-century naturalist, and a commentator and an essayist on social and political matters. Through a detailed reading of Thoreau s Journal" and Walden," Thorson shows that Thoreau was a competent scientist with expertise in limnology, geology, hydrology, and ecology. He also had a fundamental understanding of the effects of glaciers on landscapes. --L. T. Spencer"Choice" (07/01/2014)"

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Harvard University Press
• Date d'édition: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0674088182
• ISBN 13: 9780674088184
• Reliure: Livre broché
• Nombre de pages: 440