06-03-2019, 02:46 PM
I decided to read this because we read part of it in high school and I figured that I was too young to get it. And partly, that was true - there were some fairly obscure classical references, and even mention of Buddha and the Vedas that I would have missed.
I have to say it got tiresome whenever he started philosophizing; his pronouncements seemed good for adolescents, but not so much for someone my age (he died at about 40) and him talking about working at what one really wanted to do (when he had income from the family pencil factory) felt a lot like John Lennon singing "imagine no possessions" while being a very rich man. On the other hand, some of the writing is top notch, and some of the chapters, particularly when he discusses nature, are really good. So I would say skip the first and last chapters, where he pontificates. The best parts to me were "Sounds," "House-Warming," "The Pond in Winter," and "Spring."
I have to say it got tiresome whenever he started philosophizing; his pronouncements seemed good for adolescents, but not so much for someone my age (he died at about 40) and him talking about working at what one really wanted to do (when he had income from the family pencil factory) felt a lot like John Lennon singing "imagine no possessions" while being a very rich man. On the other hand, some of the writing is top notch, and some of the chapters, particularly when he discusses nature, are really good. So I would say skip the first and last chapters, where he pontificates. The best parts to me were "Sounds," "House-Warming," "The Pond in Winter," and "Spring."
the hands that guide me are invisible