Thursday, November 12, 2026 · 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Children's Activity Room — 129 Main St., Concord, MA
Please join us for an evening with Professor Robert M. Thorson: a public lecture with readings, followed by Q&A and book signing, for his forthcoming book, The Walden Experiments: The Science of Henry David Thoreau , to be published in September 2026 by Princeton University Press . This event is co-sponsored by The Thoreau Alliance and The Walden Woods Project . "Henry David Thoreau’s Walden stands as the foundational text for the environmental movement and as a model for the practice of nature writing. In The Walden Experiments, Robert Thorson tells the story of how, after several discarded drafts of social critique, Thoreau resuscitated Walden with a sharp swerve toward science. Thorson invites us to read—or reread—Walden to discover the observations, empirical thinking, and scientific explanations supporting this canonical work of literature. Chapter by chapter, he guides us through Walden’s relevance for such contemporary scientific concerns as climate change, ecological collapse, water supply, agriculture, artificial intelligence, and technology. Thoreau’s first “experiment” of living deliberately took place in a one-room house at Walden Pond from 1845 to 1847. This was…