Walden and other cabin reading

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Author	Message
rmak Member	# Posted: 22 Feb 2015 19:17 - Edited by: rmak Reply I was wisecracking on a post recently. The topic was "why a small cabin" or something like that. I said that I was made to read "Walden" in high school, and it stuck. You may remember it's a book written by Henry David Thoreau in 1854 about his two years at a cabin (10 X 15) at Walden Pond. That got me thinking and wanting to revisit that book, which I did. I have a copy down at the cabin and I've been reading a little of it every time I visit. The words and ideas resonate with me much more today, and much more in my own place away from civilization, than it did so many years ago. There is so much wisdom and so much questioning why we want everything we think we want. So much simple observation. That got me to wondering what other books I'd want at the cabin. I really enjoy reading in complete silence with maybe a crackle of the fire now and again. I'm open to suggestions to any book recommendations. I might just have to build a bookshelf next summer.

beachman Member	# Posted: 22 Feb 2015 20:14 Reply I recall visiting Waldon Pond on various occasions and seeing the site of his very small cabin. It was fairly remote in the 50's but by the late 70's it was near a high traffic area. A beautiful area and thanks to people like Don Henley, it remains undeveloped today. A good reminder that we have to fight for green space, especially one of such historical significance. A great read also.

beachman Member	# Posted: 22 Feb 2015 20:20 Reply Just thought of another book that is at our camp right now and I cheated and googled it. It was by Louise Dickerson Rich about a woman who live in the Rangelegy area of Maine back in the 40's. A great read also.

Smawgunner Member	# Posted: 22 Feb 2015 21:24 Reply Sand County Almanac is a good quick read,...almost like poetry.

Pookie129 Member	# Posted: 23 Feb 2015 11:13 Reply Does it have to be cabin or sustainable living related? If not, a good read is Round Ireland with a Fridge - Tony Hawks. Always puts a smile on my face and a laugh in my heart.

beachman Member	# Posted: 23 Feb 2015 12:13 Reply Title - "We Took to the Woods"

Malamute Member	# Posted: 23 Feb 2015 14:25 Reply Cache Lake Country, by John Rowlands. One of my all time favorite books.

TheCabinCalls Member	# Posted: 23 Feb 2015 16:12 Reply Your Cabin in the Woods, by Conrad Meinecke Cabinology, by Dale Mulfinger These two work great when you are away from the cabin too - just to give you that feeling...you know that one.

rmak Member	# Posted: 23 Feb 2015 20:59 Reply Quoting: TheCabinCalls just to give you that feeling...you know that one I do! List so far: We Took to the Woods Sandy County Almanac Round Ireland with a Fridge Your Cabin in the Woods Cabinology A great list but I'm open for more, that is...if amazon has cheap used copies.

Smawgunner Member	# Posted: 23 Feb 2015 21:25 Reply The Frontiersman by Alan Ekart is outstanding.not so much cabin related but life back when log cabins dotted the land.

cabingal3 Member	# Posted: 23 Feb 2015 21:26 Reply "Dear Mad'm" (Stella W. Patterson)about an 80 yr old lady who finally moves from San Francisco to her mining claim .its a true story and the best book.she lives in a little mining cabin.no locks on the doors .she piles everything in the cabin up against the door the first nite. its a book i read over and over. The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness The Last American Man-about Eustace Conway.

Malamute Member	# Posted: 25 Feb 2015 13:02 Reply Quoting: rmak A great list but I'm open for more, that is...if amazon has cheap used copies. Try Abebooks.com for used stuff

SubArcticGuy Member	# Posted: 25 Feb 2015 14:51 - Edited by: SubArcticGuy Reply I just finished reading Kinds of Winter by Dave Olesen. It is a fantastic read. I read the first half at the cabin and then brought the book to an airport to read on a scheduled flight, but I couldn't bring myself to read it in company of others. The book should be read at the cabin or at least in solitude. It is about his 4 solo dogsled trips from his homestead in a remote part of the Northwest Territories...along with his musings that come from long solo trips. I have worked with Dave a few times (we have shared the cockpit of his bushplane for many hours) and it is always interesting. Definitely worth the purchase! Kinds of Winter - Amazon.ca

SubArcticGuy Member	# Posted: 25 Feb 2015 14:54 Reply Another great old-time read is "Lure of the Labrador Wild" and it's follow up book Great Heart. Both great reads that convey how hard the old times were in the remote wilds.

Don_P Member	# Posted: 25 Feb 2015 19:12 Reply The Willa Cather books were fun to read, the Year 1000 by Robert Lacey, Life in a Medieval Village, any of Eric Sloane's. In 1945 Robert Wells Robbins, an amatuer archaeoligist, painter, window washer, poet.. discovered the root cellar and foundation of Thoreau's cabin. He had also located Thomas Jefferson's Birthplace in Charlottesville, DuPont's gunpowder mill in Wilmington Delaware and the John and Priscilla Alden house. My Dad ran into him in 1964, one of Robbin's dreams was to build a reproduction of Thoreau's cabin. So, he and Dad built a copy in Robbins' back yard apple orchard a few miles from Walden Pond near Concord. They used the book as the plan, built everything on site, hand dug the footings and placed a brick from Robbins' excavation of Thoreau's chimney in their chimney just over the mantle. Apparently things came to a halt one day as they read and reread the passage relating to the hatches to the root cellar and the garret, they were directly over one another, but where? They finally located them a few feet into the room from the door. At the time people around Concord still had mixed feelings about him, some thought him a no good lazy misfit who returned Emerson's friendship by sleeping with his wife, others considered him a Renaissance man. I suspect both camps were right. Emerson's "Self Reliance" is the book that set Thoreau on his outing to the woods. It kind of took, we went to the woods and never left. Where "serenity is rippled but not ruffled".

turkeyhunter Member	# Posted: 25 Feb 2015 21:32 Reply Henry David Thoreau ~~~~anything written by him when I need my MAINE fix....

rmak Member	# Posted: 27 Feb 2015 17:13 Reply Don P-Is that the reproduction Thoreau cabin on youtube? Cool! So what did Don Henley have to do with saving Walden Pond? (from beechman's first post above). I'm not too concerned about Thoreau's philandering and laziness ruining his standing. I think most famous people are full of faults like the rest of us. I'm more worried about that chin beard thing. What's up with that?

beachman Member	# Posted: 27 Feb 2015 17:48 Reply rmak, Don Henley took an interest in this area due to some pending large developments that were ready to go ahead. He initiated the Walden Woods Project I think around 1990 or maybe later. I guess it was aimed more at the surrounding woods to keep the area pristine. I understand that the project has grown to promote the works and theme of Thoreau to this and other conservation areas.

rmak Member	# Posted: 27 Feb 2015 18:53 Reply Good for him! Thanks.

morock Member	# Posted: 1 Mar 2015 13:51 Reply As a kid (maybe 8 years old) I remember really enjoying a book called "My side of the mountain". I read it to my son when reached about the same age. Thanks for the thread, great memories. I will dig out the book and find a place for it at the cabin.

KinAlberta Member	# Posted: 24 Mar 2019 21:46 - Edited by: KinAlberta Reply Angel roofs â€œ...Michael Rimmer in his book The Angel Roofs of East Anglia: Unseen Masterpieces of the Middle Ages.â€œ The medieval marvel few people know â€œexpert Michael Rimmer in his book The Angel Roofs of East Anglia: Unseen Masterpieces of the Middle Ages. But the roofs remain seen by few; even those who visit the churches donâ€™t always catch their details. â€œDistance and lighting make it hard to appreciate the detail of angel roofs with the naked eye, or even with binoculars. â€... â€œThe angels at Westminster Hall arenâ€™t just decorative. Projecting out from the walls, they support vertical hammer posts and help hold up the entire roof structure, which is no mean feat: the roofâ€™s oak alone weighs some 600 tons. ...â€ http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20170427-the-extraordinary-angel-roofs-of-england-

Malamute Member	# Posted: 30 Mar 2019 11:33 Reply Another good read with some thoughts on the lifestyle was The Wilderness Cabin by Calvin Rutstrum. He wrote scads of books, many with thoughts about wilderness life and lifestyles, not just "how to" type books. One Mans Wilderness by Dick Proenneke of course is good (I just skimmed and didnt see it here). Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail by Theodore Roosevelt was interesting. It was about his time on his ranch in South Dakota, the people he met, and general thoughts on frontier life.