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  Walden Retold

  Walden is an account of the two years and two months that David Henry Thoreau lived on the shores of Walden Pond, supporting himself by the labor of his own hands. In conducting this natural experiment in simple living, Thoreau hoped to discover what was essential to life. In this book, he says:

  I went to the woods because I wanted to take a good look at life. I wanted to learn what life had to teach. What I didn't want was to discover, just before I died, that I hadn't lived at all. I did not want to live what is not life, for life is too precious. And I didn't want to just accept life, unless it was absolutely necessary. I wanted to live deeply, see into the heart of things. I wanted to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms. If life turned out to be ugly, then I wanted to see it as such and tell the world about it. If life were sublime, then I wanted to know all its wonders through personal experience, and give a true account of it.

  Walden is a revolutionary book, calling into question the very principles of modern society. It challenges the reader to reconsider the foundations of his or her life. The present version is a retelling of the first two chapters of the original.

  Part of the Classics Retold to be Read, Not just Revered series, this retelling of the first two chapters of Walden has been undertaken to make the book more widely accessible -- without diluting its intellectual content -- for both emerging adults seeking broader perspectives and intellectually curious older readers. The text is set in a slightly larger typeface for easier reading.

  The Author

  Henry David Thoreau (1817-62) was a philosopher, naturalist, and abolitionist. He is considered the father of modern environmentalism. In 1846 he spent a night in jail for refusing to pay taxes to a government that permitted slavery. This experience led to his writing Civil Disobedience, which called for individual resistance to immoral government, and which influenced the thinking of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and others.

  Review by Michael Brase on 09:28, 09 Oct 2008

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  Book of Tea Retold

  The Book of Tea is a description of the history, underlying philosophy, and aesthetics of the Japanese tea ceremony. It is also, and more importantly, a book about how to live a meaningful life. It is about nature and simplicity, about art and beauty, about the unfathomable depth in the small things in life that surround us. In this edition of The Book of Tea, the author, Kakuzo Okakura, writes:

  The way of tea is founded on a love of what is beautiful in our common everyday lives. It teaches purity and harmony, mutual respect, and the importance of nature and the individual. It is essentially a worship of the imperfect. It is an attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible world of ours.

  The book is divided into seven chapters. The first is an introduction to the way of tea, in China, Japan, and the West. The second describes the rise of schools of tea in China as a pastime of cultured society, and how the way of tea made its way to Japan, where it was elevated to the status of a religion devoted to beauty. The third chapter discusses the philosophical foundations of the way of tea, which lie first in Taoism and later in the worldview of Zen Buddhism. The fourth chapter describes the utter simplicity of the room where the tea ceremony is conducted, the asymmetry of its interior decoration, and its avoidance of repetition. The fifth chapter discusses the proper approach to art, which is so important to understanding the way of tea. The sixth describes the essential role of flowers in the way of tea and in life, with a distinction being made between the "tea master's" approach and the "flower master's" approach. The last chapter is devoted to the tea masters and their influence on Japanese architecture, crafts, gardens, and more. Okakura writes that "the tea master sought to be something more than an artist; he sought to be art itself."

  Part of the "Classics Retold to be Read, Not just Revered" series, the aim of this retelling of The Book of Tea is to make the book more widely accessible -- without diluting its intellectual content -- for both young and emerging adults seeking broader perspectives as well as intellectually curious older readers. The book will be of particular interest to those who want a deeper insight into the tea ceremony, flower arrangement, and Japanese aesthetics. The text is set in a slightly larger typeface for easier reading.

  The Author

  Kakuzo Okakura (1863-1913), was born in Yokohama five years before the outset of the Meiji period, which marked the end of over 200 years of national isolation and the beginning of Japan's headlong rush to transform itself into a military and industrial power that could resist Western incursions and colonization. Yokohama was a boisterous international port, and Okakura’s father, a samurai stationed there for business reasons, was a progressive thinker, who started Okakura learning English at the age of six. Okakura’s most important works, including The Book of Tea (1906), were written in English, and devoted to explaining and defending Japanese and Asian culture.

  The era in which Okakura lived was characterized by Western inroads into Asian countries. The West, thanks to the industrial revolution, was materially and militarily superior to the East, and considered itself to be culturally superior as well. Through heroic effort, Japan built up its industry and military, and when it emerged victorious from the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, it became the first non-Western country to achieve international recognition by Western powers.

  Okakura, however, was not concerned with this type of recognition. He wanted recognition for Japanese and Eastern arts and culture, and he felt the need to preserve them from increasing Westernization. In 1887 he was one of the founders of the first Japanese fine arts academy, and in 1898 he helped found the Japanese Institute of Fine Arts. In 1904 he was invited to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts as a curator, and in 1910 he became the first head of the Asian art division of that Museum. He died in 1913 at the age of fifty, having devoted his life to preserving Japan's traditional cultural heritage. Important figures influenced by Okakura include the German philosopher Martin Heidegger, the American poet Ezra Pound, the Indian poet Rabindranth Tagore, the American art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner, and the British translator Arthur Waley.

  Review by Michael Brase on 09:33, 09 Oct 2008

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