“A man must be born into a family of Walkers,” says Thoreau in “Walking” (1862). Reading this essay as an adolescent, I adopted it as my manifesto for some years and regarded the serendipity of my last name a kind of fate.

Reading Thoreau at the right place and right time can be life changing. This essay, among the best of Thoreau, is the subject for our lecture & discussion on Monday. Each time I’ve taught it, I’ve made sure to emphasize the significance of its conclusion, that strange passage in which Thoreau describes overhearing the trees thinking on Spaulding’s Farm.