In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

recto runningfoot 95 2 3 . N u m b e r s • 2,000: population of Concord during Thoreau’s stay at the pond • 2 years, 2 months, 2 days: length of Thoreau’s stay at Walden (before deducting a month spent at home while his cabin was being winterproofed and his two-week Maine trip) • 1.3 miles: distance from Thoreau’s cabin to Emerson’s house • 28–36: Thoreau’s age during Walden’s composition • 550 yards: distance from Thoreau’s cabin to the Fitchburg railroad line • 204 feet: distance from Thoreau’s cabin to Walden Pond • 612 acres: size of Walden Pond • 31: tools Thoreau used at Walden • over 3,000: uses of first-person pronoun in Walden • less than half a mile: distance from Thoreau’s cabin to Irish railroad laborers’ huts • 10' x 15': size of Thoreau’s cabin • 30: people that could fit in the cabin without removing the furniture • almost 7 miles: total length of Thoreau’s bean rows • over 700: references to animals in Walden • 6: languages Thoreau could read fluently (English, Latin, Greek, French, German, Italian) • 25: Harvard faculty members when Thoreau was a student • over $1 million: 1988 sale price of Thoreau family house ...

Share