Letters to a Spiritual Seeker is a book that can reveal many of Thoreau beliefs. Henry David Thoreau is an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience", an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.Thoreau's literary style interweaves close natural observation, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and "Yankee" love of practical detail.He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.

亨利·大卫·梭罗因其在文学和政论上的杰出作品而闻名于世。而在1848年，当梭罗还不为人所知的时候，他的一位朋友哈里森·布莱克就深深地感觉到梭罗是一位出色的"精神导师"，并向他寻求精神上的帮助。从此之后的13年里，梭罗一直不间断地给布莱克写信，表达了自己对人生、社会、国家、历史、文化等诸多方面的深刻感悟，而本书就是所有这些信件的汇编。在梭罗的笔下，自然、人以及超验主义理想交融汇合，浑然一体。他在信中所展示出的淡泊的人生态度和超乎寻常的智慧，具有永恒的意义，直至150多年后的今天，这些信件仍然会激起读者强烈的内心共鸣。