This is really hard to rate. On one hand, Thoreau has brilliant moments in his writing--his thoughts on nature, society, and identity are compelling and inspiring. But, on the other hand, his writing is overwhelming. Reading this was like having someone talk non-stop in your ear, it's so much to take in that you really only retain like a third of what they've said. Not to mention, it's not the most exciting read when he goes into extreme detail about farming and measuring the depth of the lake. That's cool, man. But I don't want to read every freaking detail. Overall, it's not a bad read once you get past the ten page hump, and the boring middle hump. It was well worth sticking with it through to the end, so 3.5.