Relaxation Rewind! Biographical Sketch of Henry David Thoreau, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Boring Books for Bedtime Readings to Help You Sleep
Sharon Handy
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2023
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Let's trip back in time two years ago (!!) and relax with this newly remastered paean of praise from one transcendentalist to another. We should all be so lucky to be spoken of like this.
Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported!
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW
Read "Excursions" at Project Gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9846
Music: "Boring Books for Bedtime," by Lee Rosevere, licensed under CC BY, https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com
If you'd like to suggest a copyright-free reading for soft-spoken relaxation to help you overcome insomnia, anxiety and other sleep issues, connect on our website, http://www.boringbookspod.com.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Good evening and thank you for joining me for another boring books for bedtime. |
| 0:08.0 | I hope tonight selection provides all the boredom your busy brain needs to quiet down and let you get some sleep. |
| 0:17.0 | So find a comfortable spot. |
| 0:22.0 | Adjust your volume. Take a nice deep breath in. Let it out slowly. |
| 0:33.7 | And off we go. |
| 0:37.6 | Tonight we're reading a selection from excursions, a collection of essays published by Henry David Thoreau in 1863. |
| 0:49.8 | In this selection, however, we're hearing about Henry David Thoreau in a biographical |
| 0:56.6 | sketch penned by equally famous author Ralph Waldo Emerson. Let's begin. |
| 1:07.0 | Henry David Thoreau was the last male descendant of a French ancestor who came to this country from the Isle of Guernsey. |
| 1:18.3 | His character exhibited occasional traits drawn from this blood in singular combination with a very strong Saxon genius. |
| 1:31.0 | He was born in Concord, Massachusetts on the 12th of July, 1817. |
| 1:38.0 | He was graduated at Harvard College in 1837, but without any literary distinction. |
| 1:46.0 | An iconoclast in literature, he seldom thanked colleges for their service to him, holding them in small esteem, whilst |
| 1:56.5 | yet his debt to them was important. |
| 2:00.9 | After leaving the university, he joined his brother in teaching a private school, which he soon renounced. |
| 2:09.0 | His father was a manufacturer of lead pencils and Henry applied himself for a time to this craft, |
| 2:18.0 | believing he could make a better pencil than was then in use. After completing his experiments, he exhibited his work to chemists and |
| 2:28.0 | artists in Boston, and having obtained their certificates to its excellence and to its equality with the best London manufacture, he returned home contented. |
| 2:42.0 | His friends congratulated him that he had now opened his way to fortune, but he |
| 2:47.8 | replied that he should never make another pencil. Why should I? I would not do again what I have done once. |
| 2:58.0 | He resumed his endless walks and miscellaneous studies, making every day some new acquaintance with nature, though as yet never speaking of zoology or botany, since though very studious of natural facts, he was incurious of technical and textual |
| 3:18.3 | science. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sharon Handy, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Sharon Handy and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.