If you follow world politics a little, there is at least one of Henry David Thoreau’s concepts that you are already familiar with: civil disobedience. If you are not familiar with that book or the ideas it promotes, just know that examplary people like Martin Luther King or Gandhi used this book as inspiration to justify their actions.
The American thinker was one of the greatest poets and intellectuals of his time, he still inspires many around the world, although he’s more famous in his home country. His advocacy for simplicity and ecology are an everyday inspiration for me, as he is one of my favorite writers. Every time I get the opportunity, I recommend his book “Walking”, an essay about waking in the nature. By the way, you can find it here for free in PDF format.
Designer Matt Steel discovered the author in 2014 by reading “Walden”, the author’s most famous essay. It profundly affected his life and changed his world view. This book is less read nowadays than in the past, although our society needs to learn about Thoreau more than ever. Steel took upon himself to republish the book, which can be a bit hard to read because the language has changed since it was written, and to annotate it to make the ideas easier to understand.
If you want to see this gorgeous version of Walden published, you should definitly help the Kickstarter project that was launched to finance it.
About the Author
Mirko Humbert
Mirko Humbert is the editor-in-chief and main author of Designer Daily and Typography Daily. He is also a graphic designer and the founder of WP Expert.