Note: Click the cover to reach each book’s site.
Since the late 1990s, I’ve spent most of my non-teaching professional time as a WRITER, sitting alone in silence while clicking away at the keyboard and staring at a screen. About half of my writing effort was and is devoted to JOURNALISM, particularly my fifteen-year stint as an op-ed columnist for the state’s flagship paper, The Hartford Courant, and my more recent work as a freelancer and Wall Street Journal book reviewer, most recently for The Atlantic. The other half was and is devoted to the writing eight BOOKS, all of which were written with advances under contracts secured by my literary agent Lisa Adams of the Garamond Agency.
Humanities Scholarship
Two scholarly works for Harvard University Press, Waldens Shore (2014), and The Boatman (2017) are cataloged under the labels Literary Studies, Biography, History, Science & Nature, and History of Science. My most recent book, The Walden Experiments (2026, in press) for Princeton University Press is catalogued under the label History of Science & Knowledge. These three books make me a humanities scholar, albeit one without academic credentials. Dozens of peer reviews were published. Finally, I have a ninth book under contract to the University of Massachusetts Press, which I consider the default successor to the University Press of New England. This book about a lunatic farmer and lost graveyard from mid 19th century New Hampshire is my experimental dabble with creative nonfiction. Publication will depend on anonymous peer reviews prior to publication, with judgments based more on literary integrity than on historical scholarship.
Trade Nonfiction
Four of my books were published by esteemed commercial presses. Three, Stone by Stone (2002), Exploring Stone Walls (2005), and Beyond Walden (2009), were published by Bloomsbury (formerly Walker). My last, The Guide to Walden Pond (2018) was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (now Mariner, an imprint of Harper Collins). One of these, Stone by Stone, was a surprise bestseller, won the Connecticut Book Award for nonfiction, was brought out in audio by Tantor Media (2023), and was nominated as a classic for the National Outdoor Book Award (2025).
Children’s Literature
My first book, Stone Wall Secrets (1998) was coauthored with Kristine Thorson, illustrated by Gustave Moore, and Published by Tilbury House. It’s a thinly veiled geology lesson that was selected by the Smithsonian Institution as one of their Notable Books for Children.
Links to Nine Books
Tinkhamtown: Reading New England’s Abandoned Landscape — No link yet. Too new. Draft manuscript favorably reviewed and improved by four colleagues but not yet submitted to UMass Press.
The Walden Experiments: The Science of Thoreau’s Masterpiece — History of Science and Ideas. In press at Princeton University Press, scheduled for Sep 29, 2026. The cover above is a placeholder, pending design.
The Guide to Walden Pond: An exploration of history, nature, landscape, and literature of one of America’s most iconic places. In Collaboration with the Walden Woods Project (Mariner, 2018).
The Boatman: Henry David Thoreau’s River Years – Biography, environmental history, science, and law (Harvard, 2017).
Walden’s Shore: Henry David Thoreau and Nineteenth Century Science – Scholarly literary criticism (Harvard, 2014).
Beyond Walden: The Hidden History of America’s Kettle Lakes – From Walden to Wobegon (Bloomsbury. 2009).
Exploring Stone Walls: A Field Guide to New England’s Stone Walls – Outdoor fun for all ages (Walker. 2005).
Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England’s Stone Walls – Winner of the 2004 Connecticut Book Award (Walker, 2003).
Stone Wall Secrets By Kristine and Robert Thorson – A Smithsonian Notable Book for Children (Tilbury House, 1998).