hey sabila, i have read emersons complete essays but havetn got round to reading thoreau but will .. it sounds exactly like what nietzsche, schopenhauer and de montaigne did ... they all disappeared into the wilderness and came back with a clearer understanding of mankind ... you should read de montagines compelte essays .... you would love them ... read any neechy? :)

Both men were part of the Transcendental movement and intellectual partners. The movement was initiated when Emerson wrote his essay, "Nature," in which he states his belief that people can transcend the mat'l world and truly experience God in the natural world, which is also a reflection of our souls. Thoreau is best known for "Walden," a chronicle of his move to Walden Pond, where he lived alone, shunning material wealth and relying only on his the natural world that surrounded him. Check out both.

come on mate .. brit thinking rules .... we orchestrated your whle constitution remember!! ;) never eard of mills and hobbes?
im only kidding ...

wow sabila you know the score .. i havetn actually read any thoreau yet - whats his best ?... will get it on abebooks tomorrow. whats the difference between thoreau and emerson? whats your favoutite book of all time?

Emerson and the other Transcendentalists rock my world. Everyone must read his best-known essay "Self-Reliance," which is a call for individuals to hold firmly to our own understanding of what is right and true. It really does speak to us even today. And how could one read Emerson without reading Henry David Thoreau? His "Civil Disobedience" and "Walden" were revolutionary works. Oh, and an aside, I dig Emerson even more because of his essay, "The Poet," in which he called for an original national poet, who spoke for this country and of this country. Someone free of Brit thinking and constraints. Of course, Walt Whitman answered this call with his first publication of Leaves of Grass around a decade or so later. I heart WW.