Self-Reliance: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson as Inspiration for Daily Living Book

Let me assure the reader that although all of the above may make it sound as though I have changed Emerson beyond recognition, that is by no means the case." -Richard Whelan, Editor

Mr. Whelan, as good as his intentions may have been, rendered Emerson's essays unreadable for me. No editor, after four pages detailing what he or she has changed in the text, should need to assuage the reader of a concern that the original author is no longer present. Those concerns should never arise in the first place! The end result of Whelan's surgical endeavor was a choppy collection of "best of" passages which instead of "mak[ing] Emerson more accessible to the modern reader" (pg. 40), truly disjoint whatever cohesion Emerson may have once had. Readers are left to make transitions and link ideas instead of being guided through his ideas.

Perhaps when I picked up this book I did not understand fully what it was intended to be. After all, its hook shamelessly admits to being a "beautifully distilled version" of the originals. For this, I take a certain amount of responsibility for being disappointed; this was not intended to be a collection of Emerson's essays. Even still, I wonder if The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson as Inspiration for Daily Living is any better than the individual quotes attributed to RWE floating around the internet.