Not without some solid companions that bludgeon transcendetalism. For contemporaries, probably Poe. (On New England Transcendentalism, specifically). Melville and Hawthorne make good reads as well.

Emerson, like so many self-help books, offers what looks on the surface trivial and immediately obvious, providing a seemingly simple "if-only" path. Meanwhile, his ideas on individualism have done untold damage to society as a whole.

This isn't to imply something simple as "Emerson is wrong". He has valid insights. But reading them in a vacuum, assuming Emerson alone is sufficient reading, is not the best approach.

Ultimately, it is no accident Emerson suggests to "set at naught books and traditions", because that is the only way his ideas can survive unscathed.

(fwiw, the advice of "read widely" holds for any given book. Never believe one person has the answers)

What would be a good starting point with Emerson?