Contemporary Notices and Reviews of 
Walden; or, Life in the Woods
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"New Publications"

Newport Daily News (22 August 1854): p. 2, col. 2

This is a singular book, and is the production of a peculiar mind. The author selected a spot on the banks of a Lake from which the book takes its name, situated about a mile from the village of Concord, Massachusetts, and there, in the woods, he erected a small house, where he resided alone for more than two years, subsisting upon plain food, working a portion of the days, and reading, writing and meditating the balance of the time. he appears to have been somewhat impressed with a kind of Utopian idea, and endeavored to test his theory on a small scale. He is a man of a good deal of genius, and the book is exceedingly well written. In many instances his reasoning is sound, and it would be better for the world if some of his notions could be carried into general practice.—Again we say the book is a very peculiar one; and well worth reading. It is issued in good style.

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