Solitude: In Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World

The author dives deep below the superficial surface of merely defining solitude and peels back layers of contemplative inner discussion and offers a miriad of perspectives to consider. The lasting impact and developmental value of practicing intentional solitude is also unpacked and delicately presented for readers to embrace and digest.Well written and ejoyable while educational and enlightening! I'm sure to read this again.

This is a good book. It's a thoughtful reflection on what has happened to solitude in our hyper- connected world. Much of the book is a chronicle of the author's own search for solitude. There are some side journeys to interview various brain scientists or authors or other people who are thinking about the same thing. It's a short book and easy to read and yet it does stimulate one's own reflection on the subject. It's just an important reminder of what we might be losing and I can easily recommend it.

Overrated.

A worthy book and look at what happens when we actually spend time truly alone. So may people are not able to be alone with their own thoughts and the background noise of the mind. It is necessary now and again.

We are forced into solitude, away from work, away from friends, and, in many cases, away from relatives. Covid-19 has shut down many communities, but for the reading community, we have never been closer. We find ways and means to connect and ways and means to share. Michael Harris' book, 'Solitude' is a helpful companion during a lockdown when we are all forced to reset.Harris reminds us of the uses of solitude: ‘new ideas, an understanding of the self, and closeness to others'. Taken together, he says, they will help us build a rich interior life. Ideas are sensitive and may wilt if exposed prematurely. Solitude helps to nurture new ideas; especially insights into our selves.Of course, during a lockdown, we discover the things we miss - but also the things we do not miss. More importantly, we find the time in solitude to reinvent ourselves and imbue ourselves with a strength that comes from solitude. Harris warns us not to seek refuge online although that may be the default entertainment not that the internet is a misguiding guide as it often is, but an overdose of it destroys the gains we make from quiet and self-reflection.We can take a break from the computer by writing real letters, as Harris recalls a writing workshop in Vancouver in which people have to type letters on a typewriter instead of the computer keyboard. ‘I didn’t realise that there is no delete button’, one man said.Jenny Odell’s ‘How to Do Nothing’ and Adam Kucharski’s ‘The Rules of Contagion’ are also relevant and enjoyable books for the time of the Coronavirus, as are the movies, ‘Outbreak’ starring Dustin Hoffman and Renee Russo; and ‘Contagion’, starring, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Marion Cotilard, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kate Winslet.

A very nice text that reads like a conversation in our own mind. At a very gentle pace it makes us think and see our reality under a new light. Never preachy, only showing and letting us decide...

Harris tries real hard to be Gladwell, but he just doesn't have the chops. Was hoping for a treatise on the solace of being alone (by choice or circumstance) but instead this is but a set of reflections and randomly researched topics regarding how technology is driving us apart as individuals. Vacuous and uninspired.Stack: Yule Log

Knowing how distracted our daily lives are title of this book sounded promising to me. Beginning pages are very interesting and at the point, you're tuning yourself to be presented with some very good writing and research, when, about half-way through the book, author starts to get very far off the topic providing often irrelevant examples and pretty much returns to point only in closing chapter.There are also quite a lot of sex-related and sex-oriented touches spread here and there across the book. In some writings those references and examples are important to help understand emotions author is going through or help building full picture in reader's mind. Yet in this work most part (99%) of those references were completely irrelevant to described topic and out of context. I was left with a feeling that author was using those touches, and even almost entire chapter, to underline his own sexual orientation rather than to make a point.Good writings are as good friends: if they trully are – you'd want others to meet them. That said I do not recommend this book as source of groundbreaking knowledge or enlightenment. If there's something else on your reading list, probably simply move one to that next position.

I've been looking forward to this follow-up ever since I read Michael Harris' last book, "The End of Absence", and it did not disappoint! I couldn't put it down.Can you think of the last time you had a period of true solitude? Me neither. These two books are wake-up calls to remember all of the meaningful and important things we're missing when we're glued to our technology.Moreover, this book made me realize all the ways in which I thought I was using technology... but really, IT is using ME! Time to give our heads a shake and resist the brain-candy that makes us all lead dumber and shallower lives."Solitude" reminds us of the importance of quality connection -- and the flip-side of the coin, quality disconnection. Another brilliant and highly enjoyable book from this talented author. Highly recommend for anyone with that niggling voice in the back of their head, wondering about the quality of their over-connected life.

Very nice book

A tratti molto interessante. Spesso però l'autore devia troppo a lungo dall'argomento principale (la solitudine) rendendo così la lettura estremamente noiosa. Peccato.

Absolutely fantastic and enlightening read. This book covers topics we all know about - but never sit down and confront together, face on. Reading the book joined the dots about the connected lives we live in and the importance of time to yourself to enrich your persona. I read this on a solo trip to Bali after the break up of a long term relationship - and I can categorically say it helped me change my life for the better. I have already recommended this to many friends who I feel would benefit from reading.