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Title: Solitude

Subtitle: A Singular Life in a Crowded World

Author: Michael Harris

Narrator: Kerry Shale

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-09-18

Publisher: Doubleday Canada

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Governor General's Award-winner Michael Harris explores the profound emotional and intellectual benefits of solitude and how we may achieve it in our fast-paced world.

The capacity to be alone - properly alone - is one of life's subtlest skills. Real solitude is a contented and productive state that garners tangible rewards: It allows us to reflect and recharge, improving our relationships with ourselves and, paradoxically, with others. Today, the zeitgeist embraces sharing like never before. Fueled by our dependence on online and social media, we have created an ecosystem of obsessive distraction that dangerously undervalues solitude. Many of us now lead lives of strangely crowded loneliness - we are ever-connected but only shallowly so.

Award-winning author Michael Harris examines why our experience of solitude has become so impoverished and how we may grow to love it again in the frenzy of our digital landscape. Solitude is an optimistic and encouraging story about discovering true quiet inside the city, inside the crowd, inside our busy and urbane lives. Harris guides listeners away from a life of ceaseless pings toward a state of measured connectivity, one that balances solitude and companionship.

Rich with true stories about the life-changing power of solitude, and interwoven with reporting from the world's foremost brain researchers, psychologists, and tech entrepreneurs, Solitude is a beautiful and convincing statement on the benefits of being alone.

Critic Reviews:

"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, yet never once does he rely on feel-good techniques." (Douglas Coupland)

"Solitude is well-researched, deftly reasoned and a wake-up call for a generation addicted to staying connected.... Harris is his generation's McLuhan - a media critic and philosopher whose discerning eye deconstructs its subject, looking well beyond the obvious message." (The Province)

"An insightful, lively meditation on why this increasingly scarce component of our lives should be preserved." (The Globe and Mail)

Members Reviews:

A Thoughtful Reminder of Something We Are Losing

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.

Sizzles with liberating energy

I read the advance copy a couple of months back, and "Solitude" really moved me. As the corporate lock on both politics and our individual autonomy tightens, along comes "Solitude" sizzling with liberating energy. It's an entertaining grapple with current brain science, literature, and philosopy, and is smart, off-beat and ultimately moral. I'm sure this book will contribute to the âGreat Turningâ from an outdated, planet-smothering orthodoxy to a fresh, diverse, and healthy Earth-culture.