What kind of book is The Guide? 

The Guide to Walden Pond is not your typical “guidebook,” even though the publisher uses that term.  Instead, it’s a chimera of four well-known genres. It’s part travel guide  because it’s got maps, place photographs, and lots of essential information.  It’s part nature guide because Thoreau’s favorite animals and plants are systematically described in their natural habitats. It’s part hiking guide because trail directions, GPS coordinates, and landscape descriptions are given for every stop.

But going by word count, it’s mostly travel literature for a world in miniature because  Thoreau’s personal responses to different places are different in every chapter.  As with John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, and Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, it’s a  journey narrative that ends with the traveler being in a good place.