Solitude, Michael Harris
Solitude, Michael Harris
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Solitude
In Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World

Author: Michael Harris

Narrator: Kerry Shale

Unabridged: 6 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/27/2017


Synopsis

"Kerry Shale's reading delivers lots of information clearly as Harris discusses technological developments that threaten our solitude today. While much of Harris's book is critical of those developments, Shale also captures Harris's humor and occasional indignance." — AudioFile Magazine

With a foreword by Nicholas Carr, author of the Pulitzer Prize–finalist The Shallows.

Today, society embraces sharing like never before. Fueled by our dependence on mobile devices and social media, we have created an ecosystem of obsessive connection. Many of us now lead lives of strangely crowded isolation: we are always linked, but only shallowly so.

The capacity to be alone, properly alone, is one of life’s subtlest skills. Real solitude is a powerful resource we can call upon—a crucial ingredient for a rich interior life. It inspires reflection, allows creativity to flourish, and improves our relationships with ourselves and, unexpectedly, with others. Idle hands can, in fact, produce the extraordinary. In living bigger and faster, we have forgotten the joys of silence, and undervalued how profoundly it can revolutionize our lives.

This audiobook is about discovering stillness inside the city, inside the crowd, inside our busy lives. With wit and energy, award-winning author Michael Harris weaves captivating true stories with reporting from the world’s foremost brain researchers, psychologists, and tech entrepreneurs to guide us toward a state of measured connectivity that balances quiet and companionship.

Solitude is a beautiful and convincing statement on the transformative power of being alone.

About Michael Harris

Michael C. Harris is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington and the American Military University. He has worked for the National Park Service in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Fort Mott State Park in New Jersey, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission at Brandywine Battlefield. He has conducted tours and staff rides of many east coast battlefields. Michael is certified in secondary education and currently teaches in the Philadelphia region. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Michelle and son Nathanael.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jenn on December 10, 2017

the thing with this author is that he gives the impression when reading his books that he's a very well researched tour guide on a trip to Antarctica... except he himself has never been. one appreciates the anecdotes and research he's dug up on the subject, but ultimately you'd rather be traveling w......more

Goodreads review by Andrea on May 19, 2017

Whimsical at times, Harris does put up a good argument on the necessity of solitude and the mastery of it as an art, in this modern era that constantly calls for one to remain connected.......more

Goodreads review by Brona's Books on June 29, 2017

I'm not sure that Solitude by Michael Harris is really about solitude. It was more of an exploration of our modern, connected, tech-obsessed society. He discusses what that looks like, how it happened and it's impact on our daily lives and on our long-term health. Harris wonders if social media has m......more

Goodreads review by Carlos on May 09, 2018

Good book and very interesting glance into the psychology of being alone , gets boring towards the end because it chooses to go into different tangents that are only mildly related to the sense of being alone , very good beginning and middle , it will keep you reading .......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on January 26, 2018

A better title would have been "The Extinction of Solitude." This book is less an exploration of the experience and benefits of solitude (which is what I was expecting and wanting) than it is a treatise on technology's encroachment and annihilation of solitude -- something I quickly tired of as I of......more


Quotes

"We should remind ourselves that a life without solitude is a diminished life. What makes this book so valuable and so timely is that it serves both as a reminder of solitude’s worth and as a spur to resistance. Read it in peace." —From the foreword by Nicholas Carr

"I came away from this book a better human being. Michael Harris's take on existence is calm, unique, and makes one's soul feel good." —Douglas Coupland, best-selling author of Generation X

"Solitude is a gorgeously written and fascinating book, richly detailed and thought-provoking throughout. I highly recommend it." —Michael Finkel, New York Times best-selling author of True Story and The Stranger in the Woods

"In a time of unrelenting connection, solitude becomes a radical act. It also becomes an essential one. Michael Harris makes a thoughtful and deeply felt case for why the art of spending quality time with oneself matters now more than ever—and the steps we can take to reclaim it." —Brian Christian, author of The Most Human Human and Algorithms to Live By

"This is an excellent book by a first-rate writer. Michael Harris brings his insight and eloquence to bear on one of the most insidious problems of our time: how to break free from the seductions of technology and reclaim our inner selves." —Deborah Campbell, award-winning author of A Disappearance in Damascus

"Michael Harris’s Solitude is a delightful reminder that, contrary to current wisdom, we cannot be fully human unless our minds are free to wander. An essential and spirited companion as our digital culture accelerates into the unknown." —Andrew Westoll, award-winning author of The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary

"A timely, eloquent provocation to daydream and wander." Nathan Filer, award-winning author of The Shock of the Fall

"Reading Harris's book is like smashing your Google Glasses and looking through your unique lenses for the first time." —William Powers, award-winning author of Twelve by Twelve, Off the Grid & Beyond the American Dream and New Slow City

"
Michael Harris senses that something precious has been lost." The Atlantic

"This year, a spate of new books offers amazing feats of solitude. The titles in part respond to the live-out-loud era of social media, where anyone with a device always has some form of company ... 'You could call it crowd sickness,' said Michael Harris." The Wall Street Journal

"A poetic, contemplative journey into the benefits of solo sojourning." —Elle Canada

"Solitude ... serves as a manual for cutting out your life's unwanted noise and embracing the quiet." —Zoomer

"Harris makes a compelling case for how true aloneness is both a form of expertise and a reward." The Georgia Straight

"Harris reflects personally and powerfully on the paradoxical feelings of isolation that emerge from being constantly connected and draws on the latest neuro-scientific and behavioural research to tell stories about the transformational power of solitude which can make us happier, more productive and, ultimately, more human." —The Bookseller