In this classic memoir, Henry David Thoreau has written both a manual and a testimony to living a simple life amongst the physical and sacred beauty of nature. Thoreau recounts his experience of living in a cabin he built near Walden Pond in the Massachusetts woods—an action he undertook to gain a more profound understanding of society, simplicity, and self-sufficiency. It is a story of independence, spiritual journeys, and social criticism that many readers will find relevant to contemporary life.