Selected Essays (Penguin Classics)

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Summary: RWEmerson--WOW! What else is there to say?
Review: For anyone who enjoys beautiful prose with intellectually stimulating ideas and thoughts--this book is a "MUST-HAVE" for your library collection! These classic and quotable essays are enlighting and refreshing! If you (like I do) reject the Transcendentalist doctrine and theology, you may find yourself dismissing a couple of the essays as too tasking ideologically as they are at times on the fringe of transcendental ideology. Emerson's use of the English language, however, is a breath of fresh air in this era where the common vernacular is characterized by the grotesque abuses of ebonics, profanity, and laziness. It would be incredibly wonderful if all Americans would return to the most eloquent and beautiful use of our language as Emerson does.

Rating:
Summary: A good place to start
Review: Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays don't make for an easy read, but Emerson, luckily for us, decided not to accept the easy, run of the mill explanation of the life he found around him. It takes discipline and effort to tackle Emerson's work, and I have to say that it was well worth it for me. This small paperback collection has got to be one of the best places to start for those of you interested in having a go at one of THE Trascendentalist writers. This collecion brings together in a very inexpensive buy most of his greatest prose. With this, you get "Nature," "The American Scholar," "Man the Reformer," "History," "Self-Reliance," "The Over-Soul," "The Trascendentalist," "The Poet," "Experience," and more. If there is one place to start reading Emerson, than this might as well be among the top choices. Not only is it inexpensive, but it's small, light, and easy to take around. It also includes a great introduction (by Larzer Ziff) to Emerson the man and the world in which he wrote. I highly recommend it.

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Summary: Emerson and his thought. Profound.
Review: This book asks the reader to think quite a bit. When I initially read the collection, I was turned off by the monotony of the diction and the drab subject matter. However, I found that Emerson asks his reader to think about his own thoughts and gain insight into the ideas he presents. This collection is an impeccable work of Transcendentalism and can be related to modern life as well. If you choose to read this book in the historical sense, you are sure to gain information about the mindset of the time in which it was written. Emerson's view on Man, Society, Nature, and the world in general is certain to provide you with hours upon hours of analyzation, introspection and plain old satisfaction. I recommend this collection essays enthusiastically.