We have never needed Henry David Thoreau more than we need him now. But the Thoreau we think we know is not really the one who lived and worked in the community of Concord. That Thoreau is an icon, frozen atop a pedestal. He is, says Robert Sullivan in his engaging new book The Thoreau You Don't Know "the secular priest of solitude who lives quietly and alone and, frankly, prefers it that way."

Sullivan suggests that that is not true and then proceeds to introduce us to the "other" Thoreau — the one you don't know — and it's as if you've been given a whiff of smelling salts. This "new" Thoreau revives, emboldens and energizes. This one sets you marching to the beat of your own different drummer. This one offers ways to maneuver in the 21st Century corporate world.

The times during which Thoreau was trying to make it in the world were not unlike our own. The 1830s and 1840s were a time of deep economic recession. Most of the wealth in America resided in the hands of a few people who were not eager to share it. Having witnessed the stinginess that often comes with great wealth, many people simply turned away from the accepted paths to "success," seeing them as broken and unrewarding. They were looking for alternatives. The Transcendentalists, of whom Emerson was the best known member, was one of the groups looking for new ways to live, but certainly not the only group. There were 30 collective communities in the U.S. with more than 100,000 people living in them when Thoreau decided to move to Walden Pond. His "one-man retreat" was made within the context of these national movements; he intended it as a model for all. "It was undertaken not in hopes of finding a way to be less social but in the search for a way to be more social," notes Sullivan.

Before he retreated to Walden Pond for his "experiment in living," he faced his share of troubles and struggles. It became apparent while at Harvard (he graduated in 1837), he had his family's gene for tuberculosis; two siblings and his father died from the disease. After graduating, he became an au pair and handyman for Ralph Waldo Emerson, Concord's most famous resident. He then moved to New York City for a year to try to make it in magazine publishing. Here's something hard to picture: Thoreau even tried selling magazine subscriptions door to door for a while in Westchester County. He, in other words, tried the "acceptable" paths to success and found them wanting.

Just this week, CNN Money posted a list of the Top 50 "Best Jobs in America," as determined by Money magazine. This was allegedly offered as a public service, in the wake of national unemployment topping 10 percent. These are the 50 jobs that are "forecast" to experience growth in the next 10 years. These are the 50 "acceptable" paths to success in 2009, as determined by a magazine named Money.

Among the choices open to you are such compelling callings as: corporate paralegal, securities trader, product marketing manager, financial research assistant, senior financial analyst, finance director, sales director, associate-investment banker, business analyst, human resources manager and, of course, a plethora of picks in the medical and drug professions.

As my friend Nick said, "Notice that eight of the top 22 [that's more than a third] are medical and pharmaceutical related jobs. Does this tell us something about the current 'health care reform' now being discussed in Congress?"

The only job on the list that I could see myself doing (or even wanting to do) is veterinarian. Indeed, building a cabin in the woods, planting crops, chopping wood and studying the habits of birds and small animals looks as appealing, as an alternative, in 2009 as it did in the 1840s.