Henry David Thoreau, a well-known transcendentalist, reflected on simple living in the natural world in his book Walden. This book describes Thoreau's experiences during a period of two years, two months, and two days in a cabin he constructed close to Walden Pond in Ralph Waldo Emerson's woodland outside Concord, Massachusetts. The book is a combination of satire, social experiment, spiritual quest, personal declaration of freedom, and self-reliance guide.