Robert M. Thorson is Professor of Geology at the University of Connecticut.
Thorson says that literary types haven t had the scientific chops
to recognize, among other things, Thoreau s genius for river
channel hydraulics and how close he came to discovering glacial
theory (then unformed, now proved) to explain his terrain of
erratic boulders and kettle ponds. Thorson says that Thoreau
changed from science light to science heavy around 1851, and his
writing shed much of the ecstatic divine metaphors for a style
closer to field notes.--Katherine Whittemore"Boston Globe"
(05/25/2014)"
Walden s Shore is a serious, substantial, and impressively erudite
entry into the field a model for how interdisciplinary approaches
can bring original and revelatory perspectives to bear on even the
most well-worn texts Thorson s careful reconstruction of Thoreau s
likely knowledge of landscape formation and glacial theory is
especially impressive, and constitutes a comprehensive account of
Thoreau s relation to what was apparently a major scientific
controversy of the mid-19th century.--James Williams"PopMatters"
(04/22/2014)"
Walden's Shore has no predecessor in the field of Thoreau studies.
It is a welcome addition and a needed reassessment of an iconic
figure.--Jeffrey S. Cramer, editor of The Portable Thoreau
Fascinating Thorson presents the strongest version yet of the
argument that, by the time he reached his early thirties, Thoreau
was a scientist. Thorson provides a vivid core sample of Thoreau s
middle career, a dense, compelling vision of the geodynamics of
Walden Pond, and an unexpectedly personal picture of Thoreau s
relation to nineteenth-century science The great strength of Walden
s Shore, then, lies in its absorbing analytical presentation,
through geo-scientific eyes, of topographies familiar to
Thoreauvians of Walden Pond, the Journal, and Walden itself all
lucidly explained for a nontechnical audience. Those of us who have
become devoted to the place, the book, and its author owe Robert
Thorson a debt of gratitude along with a heap of
royalties.--William Rossi"Thoreau Society Bulletin"
(01/01/2015)"
Most people know Thoreau as an environmental essayist, a
19th-century naturalist, and a commentator and an essayist on
social and political matters. Through a detailed reading of Thoreau
s Journal and Walden, Thorson shows that Thoreau was a competent
scientist with expertise in limnology, geology, hydrology, and
ecology. He also had a fundamental understanding of the effects of
glaciers on landscapes.--L. T. Spencer"Choice" (07/01/2014)"
The work of an extraordinary mind. Thorson seeks to ground what is
arguably the greatest piece of non-fiction produced in America, and
one of the world's classics, not in the field of language where it
has long been situated but rather in the material universe with
which Thoreau extensively interacted and on which he long
meditated. He stunningly succeeds in this effort.--Wayne Franklin,
University of Connecticut
Utterly fascinating In studying Thoreau s own debts to the
science-writers of his time, Thorson opens up Walden from its
sometimes insular grandeur and grounds (so to speak) its
mythopoetics in the physical properties of the place Thoreau made
famous.--Steve Donoghue"Open Letters Monthly" (09/04/2015)"
What emerges from Walden s Shore is a portrait of Thoreau in
transition, pulled in one direction by the force of his poetic
genius and keen eye for humanity s foibles, on the one hand, and,
on the other, a thinker whose insights make him more of a
curiosity-driven scientist Whereas many of us are used to literary
critics sticking their toes into scientific waters--sometimes to
their discomfiture--it is rare to find a scientist who knows and
appreciates a literary masterpiece the way Thorson does and can
write about it with aplomb. Thorson s affection for the book and
its author is clear.--William Major"Environmental History"
(07/01/2015)"
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