Letters to a Spiritual Seeker

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Summary: Letters from a Friend
Review: I had not previously delved into any collections of Thoreau's correspondence before reading this book, but had only read the occasional quotes from letters in other works. I was surprised to find such a wealth of ideas--thoughts every bit as beautifully expressed and quotable as any in Thoreau's best books. I immediately began underlining favorite passages and discovered over sixty real gems.

H.G.O. Blake and Thoreau carried on an irregular correspondence over thirteen years starting in 1848, and their relationship changed in that time from student/teacher to friends. Editor Bradley Dean does a wonderful job of thoughtfully introducing the correspondence, of providing background information to give context to each letter, and in offering extensive notes to clarify references. The result is a book every bit as enjoyable to read as Walter Harding's annotated Walden. It gives you an intimate look at the brilliant man who many have thought lacked ordinary human feelings. As Edward O. Wilson wrote for the back cover, "In its spontaneity it is the next best thing to personal conversations with the man himself."

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Summary: Check out Mosher's Flash demo for this book
Review: Mark Mosher developed a nice Flash movie about this book that can be viewed at

www.bradleypdean.com/seekermovie

Rating:
Summary: Gave me a better understanding of Thoreau and his ideas
Review: The book contains a series of letters written by Thoreau to Harrison Blake. The headnotes and annotations for the letters are extremely helpful for understanding the historical and biographical contexts of the letters. As you would expect from Thoreau, the letters contain elegant prose and extremely thought-provoking concepts. The letter format allows you to get to know Thoreau the man and makes his ideas very accessible. The letters, which were written from 1848 to 1861, enable readers to get a better sense of Thoreau the man and his concerns than they get from his more formal (more difficult) writings. Captivating, to say the least! There are so many fantastic, quotable passages; here is one of my favorites, from page 38: "Be not simply good--be good for something.--All fables indeed have their morals, but the innocent enjoy the story." Thanks, Brad, for bringing another Thoreau work into better light. Certainly I feel enlightened.

For those who want to learn more about this book visit the editor's web site: (...)To help promote this fantastic book, I developed a web demo, which can be viewed (...)