Hoping to dispel the dull and dry images of Henry David Thoreau as the moping, detached intellectual or the reflective nature mystic, this collection of quotations counters that prevalent view by nearly resurrecting Thoreau and bringing him back to the life that he so fully lived. This work clearly demonstrates that Thoreau was very much the thristing sensualist, using his body at every opportunity as a way to engage the world. And it was water above all else, the volume claims, that allowed Thoreau's deepest immersion into nature.