Download or read book The Wonders of Solitude written by Dale Salwak and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2011-12-21 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ?This diverse group of poets, novelists, artists, theologians, explorers, and psychologists muse on solitude as a means of discovering God and self, and as inspiration for creativity and inner peace. They grapple with how to reconcile the spirit of community with the spirit of seclusion, and, ultimately, how to use the power of silence and solitude to counter the distractions of our daily lives. The Wonders of Solitude is an inspiring companion in the struggle to remove ourselves, as Salwak writes, from “our peripheral concerns, from the pressures of a madly active world, and to return to the center where life is sacred — a humble miracle and mystery.”
Download or read book Hermits written by Peter France and published by Random House. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ours is an age where solitude tends to be discussed in the context of the 'problem of loneliness'. However in previous ages the capacity to seek fulfillment outside society has been admired and seen as a measure of discernment and inner security. In this lucid and highly readable book, Peter France shows how hermits, from the Taoists and Ancient Greeks to the present day, have something vitally important to say to a society that fears solitude.
Download or read book Solitude written by Michael Harris and published by Random House. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘An elegant, thoughtful book . . . beautifully expresses the importance and experience of liberation from the battery-hen life of constant connection and crowds.’ Daily Mail ‘A compelling study of the subtle ways in which modern life and technologies have transformed our behaviour and sense of self.’ Times Literary Supplement In a world of social media and smartphones, true solitude has become increasingly hard to find. In this timely and important book, award-winning writer Michael Harris reveals why our hyper-connected society makes time alone more crucial than ever. He delves into the latest neuroscience to examine the way innovations like Google Maps and Facebook are eroding our ability to be by ourselves. He tells the stories of the remarkable people – from pioneering computer scientists to great nineteenth-century novelists – who managed to find solitude in the most unexpected of places. And he explores how solitude can bring clarity and creativity to each of our inner lives. Urgent, eloquent and beautifully argued, Solitude might just change the way you think about being alone. ‘Speaks to a long-overdue conversation we still haven’t properly had in our society.’ Vice ‘A timely, elegant provocation to daydream and wander.’ Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall ‘The leading thinker about technology’s corrupting influence on our collective psyche.’ Newsweek ‘A poetic, contemplative journey into the benefits of solo sojourning.’ Elle
Download or read book The Art of Solitude written by Stephen Batchelor and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a time of social distancing and isolation, a meditation on the beauty of solitude from renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor “Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it. A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.”—Kirkus Reviews “Elegant and formally ingenious.”—Geoff Wisner, Wall Street Journal When world renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor turned sixty, he took a sabbatical from his teaching and turned his attention to solitude, a practice integral to the meditative traditions he has long studied and taught. He aimed to venture more deeply into solitude, discovering its full extent and depth. This beautiful literary collage documents his multifaceted explorations. Spending time in remote places, appreciating and making art, practicing meditation and participating in retreats, drinking peyote and ayahuasca, and training himself to keep an open, questioning mind have all contributed to Batchelor’s ability to be simultaneously alone and at ease. Mixed in with his personal narrative are inspiring stories from solitude’s devoted practitioners, from the Buddha to Montaigne, from Vermeer to Agnes Martin. In a hyperconnected world that is at the same time plagued by social isolation, this book shows how to enjoy the inescapable solitude that is at the heart of human life.
Download or read book Silence in Solitude written by Melissa Scott and published by Crossroad Press. This book was released on 2021-07-05 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Five-Twelfths of Heaven, Silence Leigh discovered that she was not only unusual, as a female pilot, but that impossible thing, a female magus. Her unique abilities make her the only person capable of reaching Earth, humanity's original home, now sealed behind a mysterious barrier — but first she must learn to use her new-found talents. As the Hegemon's men close in on her and her husbands and teacher, she must make a dangerous bargain: undertake an impossible rescue mission in exchange for a vital map. If she succeeds, she may be able to save Earth. If she fails…
Download or read book The Invention of Solitude written by Paul Auster and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2010-11-25 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'One day there is life . . . and then, suddenly, it happens there is death.' So begins Paul Auster's moving and personal meditation on fatherhood. The first section, 'Portrait of an Invisible Man', reveals Auster's memories and feelings after the death of his father. In 'The Book of Memory' the perspective shifts to Auster's role as a father. The narrator, 'A', contemplates his separation from his son, his dying grandfather and the solitary nature of writing and story-telling.
Download or read book Solitude written by Robert Kull and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2010-10-05 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Years after losing his lower right leg in a motorcycle crash, Robert Kull traveled to a remote island in Patagonia's coastal wilderness with equipment and supplies to live alone for a year. He sought to explore the effects of deep solitude on the body and mind and to find the spiritual answers he'd been seeking all his life. With only a cat and his thoughts as companions, he wrestled with inner storms while the wild forces of nature raged around him. The physical challenges were immense, but the struggles of mind and spirit pushed him even further. Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes is the diary of Kull's tumultuous year. Chronicling a life distilled to its essence, Solitude is also a philosophical meditation on the tensions between nature and technology, isolation and society. With humor and brutal honesty, Kull explores the pain and longing we typically avoid in our frantically busy lives as well as the peace and wonder that arise once we strip away our distractions. He describes the enormous Patagonia wilderness with poetic attention, transporting the reader directly into both his inner and outer experiences.
Download or read book Solitude written by Anthony Storr and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book One Hundred Days of Solitude written by Jane Dobisz and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-02-08 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In One Hundred Days of Solitude: Losing My Self and Finding Grace on a Zen Retreat, American teacher of Korean Zen Jane Dobisz (Zen Master Bon Yeon), recalls her first solitary meditation stint in the woods. Luckily, this is not just a recounting of a winter's worth of cabin fever. Instead, Dobisz takes us into her cabin, and into her mind, as she tries--at least temporarily--to live a Walden-like existence. All the bowing and meditating and wood-chopping that is part and parcel of her retreat is hardly first nature, but the good-humored and tenacious Dobisz is able to adapt, and to relate her hundred days with moving insight and humanity. Her Solitude in fact offers us all a chance to commune with her and to look inside and rediscover our own grace.
Download or read book The Art of Solitude written by Zachary Seager and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2020-04-23 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a world where we’re more connected than ever, why is it that we’re also more lonely? Dip into this anthology of classic writing to reclaim the pleasure of your own company. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning pocket size classics. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by writer and academic, Zachary Seager. The Art of Solitude shows some of the myriad ways in which people throughout history have understood their experiences of solitary life, or have counselled others to benefit from solitude. It contains poetry, essays, autobiographical pieces and short stories from writers such as Virginia Woolf, Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Dickinson and Ralph Waldo Emerson. These diverse works can teach us how to think in freedom, how to enjoy a profound inner life and how best to cope with the fact that, as the novelist Joseph Conrad put it, we live, as we dream – alone. Above all, they show how we might truly connect with ourselves and, in the process, how we can meaningfully connect with those around us, including the earth itself. Looked at in this way, solitude is always focused both outward and inward, towards the self and towards the world. The cure for loneliness is, in the end, the art of solitude.
Download or read book Fifty Days of Solitude written by Doris Grumbach and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book: To truly understand herself, Doris Grumbach embraces solitude With a busy career as a novelist, essayist, reviewer, and bookstore owner, Doris Grumbach has little opportunity to be alone. However, after seventy-five years on the planet, she finally has her chance: Her partner has departed for an extended book-buying trip, and Grumbach has been given fifty days to relax, think, and write about her experience. In this graceful memoir, Grumbach delicately balances the beauty of turning one’s back on everything with the hardship of complete aloneness. Even as she attends church and collects her mail, she moves like a shadow, speaking to no one. Left only to her books and music in the midst of a Maine winter, she must look within herself for solace. The result of this reflection is a powerful meditation on the meaning of aging, writing, and one’s own company—and reaffirmation of the power of friends and companionship.
Download or read book Toots in Solitude written by John Yount and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Funny, suspenseful, tender, and wise—the story of a man who took to the woods, and the woman who found him there Soon after his fortieth birthday, Macon “Toots” Henslee left his home, his job, and his marriage to live in a tree house. Lots of people—his wife especially—thought that he had lost his mind, but from his perch atop a Tennessee riverbank, Toots could see plainly the insanity of his old life. He had become a man who said and did the opposite of what he wanted to say and do—what could be crazier than that? Nine years later, Toots is out fishing one morning when he catches sight of a nervous young woman hiding behind a sycamore. Sally Ann Shaw is an aspiring country singer in trouble—the kind of trouble that comes with a briefcase full of stolen drug money and a pair of hired thugs in hot pursuit. A hermit’s tree house is the perfect hiding place, but in such close quarters, Toots and Sally Ann have more than gangsters to fear. For a man who gave up everything to start life over again and a woman in desperate need of a hero, love may be the most dangerous game of all. Hailed by the New York Times as “a tale written with zest and read with pleasure,” Toots in Solitude is a novel as eccentric, endearing, and irresistible as its unforgettable main character.
Download or read book Solitude written by Philip Koch and published by Open Court. This book was released on 2015-12-15 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Koch's Solitude, both solitude and engagement emerge as primary modes of human experience, equally essential for human completion. This work draws upon the vast corpus of literary reflections on solitude, especially Lao Tze, Sappho, Plotinus, Augustine, Petrarch, Montaigne, Goethe, Shelley, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman and Proust. "Koch uses the work of philosophers, historians, and writers, as well as texts such as the Bible, to show what solitude is and isn't, and what being alone can do to and for the individual. Interesting for its literary scope and its conclusions about all the good true solitude can bring us." —Booklist "Reading this book is like dipping into many minds, fierce and gentle. The author reveals his long study of great philosophers, and interprets their thoughts through the lens of his own experience with solitude. He traces our early brushes with solitude and the fear it can engender, then the craving for solitude that comes with full, adult lives." —NAPRA Review
Download or read book Stargazing in Solitude written by Suzanne Samples and published by Running Wild, LLC. This book was released on 2021-12-01 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The follow up memoir to the bestselling FRONTAL MATTER: GLUE GONE WILD. The reader continues on the cancer treatment and recovery journey with Suzanne Samples. Her honesty, candidness and humor enables the reader to turn each page with empathy and hope.
Download or read book Intimacy and Solitude written by Stephanie Dowrick and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 1996-02-06 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A co-founder of the Women's Press in England and a trained psychotherapist explores the paradox of needing to enjoy solitude before one can be truly intimate with another. In this critically acclaimed work, Dowrick moves readers through the realms of solitude, intimacy, and desire, offering spiritual as well aspsychological guidance.
Download or read book The Slaves of Solitude written by Patrick Hamilton and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book One Hundred Years of Solitude written by Gabriel García Márquez and published by Blackstone Publishing. This book was released on 2022-10-11 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the twentieth century’s enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize–winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America. Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility, the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth—these universal themes dominate the novel. Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an account of the history of the human race.
