Walden on Wheels - The Library of the Uncommons

print book, 296 pages

English language

Published May 14, 2013 by New Harvest.

ISBN:: 978-0-544-02883-8
OCLC Number:: 841186830

(2 reviews)

In this frank and witty memoir, Ken Ilgunas lays bare the existential terror of graduating from the University of Buffalo with $32,000 of student debt. Ilgunas set himself an ambitious mission: get out of debt as quickly as possible.

Inspired by the frugality and philosophy of Henry David Thoreau, Ilgunas undertook a 3-year transcontinental journey, working in Alaska as a tour guide, garbage picker, and night cook to pay off his student loans before hitchhiking home to New York. Debt-free, Ilgunas then enrolled in a master's program at Duke University, determined not to borrow against his future again. He used the last of his savings to buy himself a used Econoline van and outfitted it as his new dorm. The van, stationed in a campus parking lot, would be more than an adventure: it would be his very own Walden on Wheels. Freezing winters, near-discovery by campus police, and …

In this frank and witty memoir, Ken Ilgunas lays bare the existential terror of graduating from the University of Buffalo with $32,000 of student debt. Ilgunas set himself an ambitious mission: get out of debt as quickly as possible.

Inspired by the frugality and philosophy of Henry David Thoreau, Ilgunas undertook a 3-year transcontinental journey, working in Alaska as a tour guide, garbage picker, and night cook to pay off his student loans before hitchhiking home to New York. Debt-free, Ilgunas then enrolled in a master's program at Duke University, determined not to borrow against his future again. He used the last of his savings to buy himself a used Econoline van and outfitted it as his new dorm. The van, stationed in a campus parking lot, would be more than an adventure: it would be his very own Walden on Wheels. Freezing winters, near-discovery by campus police, and the constant challenge of living in a confined space would test Ilgunas's limits and resolve in the two years that followed. What had begun as a simple mission would become an enlightening and life-changing social experiment.

Walden on Wheels offers a spirited and pointed perspective on the dilemma faced by those who seek an education but who also want to, as Thoreau wrote, "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life".

2 editions

Literally Graphic reviewed Walden on Wheels by Ken Ilgunas

Review of 'Walden on Wheels' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

While I didn't necessarily appreciate some of the intimate details Ilgunas felt inspired to share - especially when it came to his genitalia and other regions which are generally covered. What I really liked about this book was the journey of the author as he "came of age". Of course the perspective of the memoir is from his vantage point at the end, so maybe I shouldn't be so lenient on him, but it did seem - particularly after he got into grad school - that his narrative style at least got a bit less judgmental and egotistical. He isn't perfect, but who is?

Over all 4 stars. Down with the system! I don't know. I am certainly biased in Ilgunas' favor.

StoryKeeper reviewed Walden on Wheels by Ken Ilgunas

Review of 'Walden on Wheels' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Nicely written story of discovering wilderness and life and people. The author consciously chose to study liberal arts in graduate school. Yes, he quotes Thoreau, but he is not harkening to good old days, this is a story of living deliberately in the first decade of the new century.
There's adventure and hardship and learning involved. Some great descriptions of the Brooks Range in Alaska and some philosophizing:

"Sometimes, we can't help but assume the nature of the landscape we inhabit. Just as the farm fosters industry; the desert, frugality; the mountains, hardiness; and a rocky coastline, a romantic restlessness; so does the suburb foster boredom, conventionality, and conformity."

" As much as I was a disciplined voyageur, an intrepid hitchhiker, and a stalwart ranger, dwelling in me also was an unmotivated suburbanite, a lazy couch potato, a pitiful, sometimes alcoholic loser."