Modern Day Walden

[Chitza]

Many of us with a nomad heart talk about Thoreau and his influence and inspiration on our life style(or in my case, future lifestyle). But who are our modern day Thoreau's? What current authors are writing what will be the Waldens of future generations? Tell us what you have read and what you recommend for others. Give basic info but don't give away so much that folks won't want to read for themselves!

I'll start.

William Least Heat-Moon's "Blue Highways"

Least Heat-Moon went through a difficult time with a divorce and loss of his job. He outfitted a van with sleeping and cooking facilities and set out on a journey to travel America restricting himself to the blue highways as shown on his Rand McNally atlas. These highways kept him traveling through much of rural America. Published in 1982.

I originally bought this book as a gift for my dad who was a truck driver. I thought he might enjoy reading it as he traveled. My nomad heart(Romani ancestry) comes from his side of the family. But he had been "assimilated" and couldn't accept alternative living styles. (Driving a truck was the socially acceptable way for my dad to soothe his nomad dreams. He just didn't realize it). So I took the book back from him and for the first time realized my possibilities.

Here's more info:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Highways

 

[ArtW]

Thanks for that, I'll look in my local Library for that title
I used to write, some, but somehow everything i wrote sidetracked off into areas I didn't want to write about, and I quit after trash-canning numerous stories that went off the plot too far for me to recover

 

[Thirsty Boots Nomad]

If you really like it (it's also available as an audiobook if you want to listen to it while you drive); there are a couple other books associated with it you may also enjoy. The first is the author revisiting the drive 20 years later, the second is how the author came to write the book(s) in the first place:

BLUE HIGHWAYS Revisited
https://www.amazon.com/BLUE-HIGHWAY...54364&sr=1-1&keywords=blue+highways+revisited

Writing BLUE HIGHWAYS: The Story of How a Book Happened
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-BLUE...7354495&sr=1-1&keywords=writing+blue+highways

 

[speedhighway46]

Of course include Desert Solitare by Edward Abbey. A great read by someone who was truly "one with the outdoors."

 

[ArtW]

We need a sticky on this
I actually prefer my books in book form

 

[abnorm]

And of course the 1957 novel...................On The Road by Jack Kerouac

 

[highdesertranger]

Desert Solitaire is a great read. also Thousand Mile Summer by Colin Fletcher. highdesertranger

 

[BradKW]

I'll go with The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir ...even if you saw the movie adaptation, do yourself a favor and read the book.

It probably sounds like an odd fit for this thread, but the book's overriding themes are 1) coping with solitude, 2) acceptance of adversity, 3) self-reliance, and 4) the power of positive outlook and good humor.

There's a reason that an unknown author's FIRST book (self published) went from a viral word-of-mouth best seller, to a major motion picture...more than worth checking it out  

 

[waldenbound]

This is a very good question. I would say that the modern Waldens are those that step back from society for a life of self sufficiency.
I say Dick Proenneke fits this description. I loved the book Alone In The Wilderness. He was a god with tools, and while he got stuff delivered to him by his pilot friend, he was extremely self-sufficient. His story is incredible.

 

[Txjaybird]

Scott and Helen Nearing.  Considered by some as the great grandparents of the back to the land movement.  He was fired from Wharton College and also black listed in part due to his ideas re: child labor in the early part of the 20th century & other "radical" viewpoints.

Unable to work or even be published they moved to rural properties twice and built their homesteads.  They advocated a simple natural life lifestyle and that people should not have to be/live like everyone else to be accepted by others. 

The Good Life, Living The Good Life and Leaving The Good Life are just 3 of their books that cover their lives and thoughts on living a simple, natural stress free life. 

 Scott lived to be 100.  Due to failing health and having  lived a long life he chose the time of his death by fasting at home in 1983.  Helen died later in a vehicle crash near their home in Maine due to weather related road conditions.  In my first year of college  { at the age of 42 } I did a series of speaches on their lives.  In the last one of the series I was  Helen's ghost.  There are a few videos on you tube and the books I mention + others have been on Amazon and other sites as well. 

Like my first printing of the Foxfire books and my #1 issue of TMEN these books have traveled with me for over 30 yrs and are part of my NWIH ["no way in hell"] am I leaving this behind sorting system  I use when I relocate.

Jewellann

 

[Chitza]

Oh, Jewellann! I love my Foxfire books, too! I grew up near the college where those were written and my first trips in to the mountains that have become my love were inspired by those books. And I was a young teen, then. Thank you for mentioning those.

 

[Queen]

I took a class in college that exposed me to the writings of Aldo Leopold, John Muir Rod Nash, Edward Abbey, the art of Georgia O'Keeffe, the photographs of Ansel Adams. A pivotal time in my life, those artists showed me a life and a place where I'd prefer to be, a state I'd rather live in.

 

[speedhighway46]

No "Waldon - open road" type bookshelf would not be complete without Travels With Charlie by John Steinbeck, for a little lighter fare.

 

[Thirsty Boots Nomad]

Scott and Helen Nearing.  Considered by some as the great grandparents of the back to the land movement.  He was fired from Wharton College and also black listed in part due to his ideas re: child labor in the early part of the 20th century & other "radical" viewpoints.

...

The Good Life, Living The Good Life and Leaving The Good Life are just 3 of their books that cover their lives and thoughts on living a simple, natural stress free life. 
 
...

Like my first printing of the Foxfire books and my #1 issue of TMEN these books have traveled with me for over 30 yrs and are part of my NWIH ["no way in hell"] am I leaving this behind sorting system  I use when I relocate.

Jewellann

For anyone interested (with the addition of thousands of potentially useful articles) many/most of the chapters from "The Good Life" & "Living the Good Life" were published in serial form in various editions of TMEN; ... and EVERY issue of TMEN can be purchased and read in CD format --- I have everything from issue #1 in 1970 to the end of 2012 on 5 cd's; ... definitely interesting stuff that will always have a place with me.

 

[Thirsty Boots Nomad]

Oh, Jewellann! I love my Foxfire books, too! I grew up near the college where those were written and my first trips in to the mountains that have become my love were inspired by those books. And I was a young teen, then. Thank you for mentioning those.

Many of the Foxfire books are now available online (most free I think --- at least I got them free) if anyone is interested in reading them.

 

[ArtW]

Probably doesn't fit with the thread, really, but any and all cat lovers should read 'Tailchaser's song' by Tad Williams, one cat's adventure, with his merry band of cats, told from the point of view of cats, as interpreted by Tad

 

[Chitza]

Thanks, Guy, for reminding me of the books I read as a teen that fueled my wanderlust. First, and probably one of my biggest influences was Jean Craighead George's "My Side of the Mountain", 1959. (There are two sequels which I have not read). A teenage boy runs away from home and lives on his own in the Catskills. It's more of a survival story, building shelter, learning to find food and how to survive, but the solitude and freedom spoke to me. That and being alone with nature as your teacher. She also has a series of books called "Julie of the Wolves".

And then there is "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell, published in 1960, about a young girl whose tribe leaves for the mainland and she is left to survive on her own.

 

[Txjaybird]

I don't know how I actually found this link again.   :huh: This is a perfect example of how I look when I'm searching for anything anywhere and just can't find it.  My hair is even short and stands straight up with enough Bullwinkle {moose} in it!

There are so many good books posted here.  As part of my downsizing I am going thru books right and left.  I know  that one of these days/weeks/months/years I'll be able to travel and if full timing my books will be one of the hardest things to let go of.

There is book store in Dothan AL that trades and sells books.  It's called   Red House Book Store on Qates Drive the phone # is 334-792-1475 .  It's right down the road from the Flying J truckstop.   The people there are very nice.  It's family owned and operated,  it's in a older house and just room after room of books that are very well organized.  If anyone is looking for a specific book you can contact them and they will try to find it and will ship it to you.  There's also a facebook page.

Jewellann

 

[TrainChaser]

Do you know what I remember most from Travels w/Charlie? In the beginning when he was getting ready to leave home, there was a young boy that was hanging around, wishing that he could go. I felt the same way (I was in my teens at the time).

I think that book and Gasoline Gypsy, about a young English woman and her dog ignited the wanderlust in me.

 

[TrainChaser]

And Then Came Bronson on TV didn't help...