In Thoreau's most famous book, he creates a space to view the world by moving away from what is accepted as society. For three years he lived in a cabin in Walden, and stripped his life back to essentials, learning to love the world he inhabited.

He shows with a flair for poetry and vocabulary how the local and global can be mingled together, nearly a hundred years before the word 'globalisation' was first used. His interest in philosophical reading stretches across the world, while his interest in experience of the world is limited to a small area. His wry humour and versatile use of the English language makes this not only an enjoyable philosophical text, but also a very enjoyable book overall.