Solitude, Robert Kull
Solitude, Robert Kull
9 Rating(s)
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Solitude
A Year Alone in the Patagonia Wilderness

Author: Robert Kull

Narrator: Robert Kull

Unabridged: 15 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/01/2016


Synopsis

“Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes opens the door, admitting the reader into the society of one man’s soul. A visit is well worth the while.”
— American Psychological Association Review of Books
Years after losing his lower right leg in a motorcycle crash, Robert Kull set off on a quest to explore the effects of deep solitude on mind and body and to, perhaps, find the spiritual answers he’d been seeking. He travelled alone toa remote island in Patagonia’s coastal wilderness, taking the equipment and supplies he’d need for a year alone, and his cat. On that island, he wrestled with inner storms and with the wild forces of nature that raged around him. He faced immense physical challenges, but the struggles of mind and spirit pushed him much further.
In this diary of Kull’s tumultuous year, he chronicles a life distilled to its essence, and he also offers a philosophical meditation on the tensions between nature and technology, isolation and society. Kull explores the pain and longing we often avoid in our busy lives, as well as the peace and wonder that arise once we strip away our distractions, all with humor and brutal honesty. Kull describes the Patagonia wilderness with poetic attention, transporting the reader directly into both his inner and outer experiences.
“Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes opens the door, admitting the reader into the society of one man’s soul. A visit is well worth the while.”
— American Psychological Association Review of Books
Years after losing his lower right leg in a motorcycle crash, Robert Kull set off on a quest to explore the effects of deep solitude on mind and body and to, perhaps, find the spiritual answers he’d been seeking. He travelled alone toa remote island in Patagonia’s coastal wilderness, taking the equipment and supplies he’d need for a year alone, and his cat. On that island, he wrestled with inner storms and with the wild forces of nature that raged around him. He faced immense physical challenges, but the struggles of mind and spirit pushed him much further.
In this diary of Kull’s tumultuous year, he chronicles a life distilled to its essence, and he also offers a philosophical meditation on the tensions between nature and technology, isolation and society. Kull explores the pain and longing we often avoid in our busy lives, as well as the peace and wonder that arise once we strip away our distractions, all with humor and brutal honesty. Kull describes the Patagonia wilderness with poetic attention, transporting the reader directly into both his inner and outer experiences.
“Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes opens the door, admitting the reader into the society of one man’s soul. A visit is well worth the while.”
— American Psychological Association Review of Books
Years after losing his lower right leg in a motorcycle crash, Robert Kull set off on a quest to explore the effects of deep solitude on mind and body and to, perhaps, find the spiritual answers he’d been seeking. He travelled alone toa remote island in Patagonia’s coastal wilderness, taking the equipment and supplies he’d need for a year alone, and his cat. On that island, he wrestled with inner storms and with the wild forces of nature that raged around him. He faced immense physical challenges, but the struggles of mind and spirit pushed him much further.
In this diary of Kull’s tumultuous year, he chronicles a life distilled to its essence, and he also offers a philosophical meditation on the tensions between nature and technology, isolation and society. Kull explores the pain and longing we often avoid in our busy lives, as well as the peace and wonder that arise once we strip away our distractions, all with humor and brutal honesty. Kull describes the Patagonia wilderness with poetic attention, transporting the reader directly into both his inner and outer experiences.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Leslie on March 01, 2009

A grad student preparing his dissertation on the effects of extreme solitude on a person, Bob heads off to Patagonia to be alone for a year. This book is a collection of his journals primarily as well as some inserted sections where he talks about spiritual growth, technology etc. It is an interesti......more

Goodreads review by Ed on February 15, 2010

Well if you don't have a year to spend alone on a small bare island in southern Chilean Patagonia, this is the next best thing. I loved this book which is really a day by day journal of the year the author spent alone without any human contact but for a monthly satellite phone 'I am OK' message and......more

Goodreads review by ebradley127 on December 29, 2016

I really wanted to like this book, but in the end it was a slog to finish. So much pretension and self-absorbtion I wanted to slap him 85% of the time. And enough abuse heaped on the poor goddamn cat. He took what could have clearly been a wonderous and wonderful experience and painstakingly picked......more

Goodreads review by Legacy on July 02, 2016

I had high hopes for this book yet 120 pages in; I’m infuriated with the author. All he does is complain about his aches and pains and how he needs to deal with it naturally, yet then succumbs to taking painkillers and sleeping? His religious hodgepodge is also hard to follow; he takes pieces of dog......more

Goodreads review by William on January 10, 2018

This unusual book is essentially a journal written to fulfill a PhD requirement in interdisciplinary studies at the University of British Columbia. Imagine if Thoreau had set up camp on the shore of an isolated island in Patagonia off the coast of southern Chile—hard to think of a more remote place.......more