这本书的思想是崇尚简朴生活，热爱大自然的风光，内容丰厚，意义深远，语言生动，意境深邃，就像是个智慧的老人，闪现哲理灵光，又有高山流水那样的境界。
书中记录了作者隐居瓦尔登湖畔，与大自然水乳交融、在田园生活中感知自然重塑自我的奇异历程。读本书，能引领人进入一个澄明、恬美、素雅的世界。

On July 4, 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into the cabin he had built on the shore of Walden Pond. Now, on the 150th anniversary of that event, Houghton Mifflin is proud to publish an exceptional new edition of what is perhaps the most important book in our history as a publisher. Walden: An Annotated Edition features the definitive text of the book with extensive notes on Thoreau's life and times by the distinguished biographer and critic Walter Harding. In the third chapter, Thoreau writes, "How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book?" For many readers, Walden is that book. Written a century and a half ago, it grows more meaningful every day, and whether you are reading it for the first time or the hundredth, Walter Harding's insightful comments will open your eyes to the true depths of this masterpiece.