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A review by uditnair24
How to Be Alone by Sara Maitland
4.0
I am somebody who completely embraces the solitude and I often find peace with it. And as a result this book naturally attracted me. In the first part of the book author goes on to describe about the personal experiences with solitude over the years. Then she goes on to narrate the cultural and historical instances of solitude vis a vis the community driven life spaces. The first part of the book presents solitude as something which is not much appreciated by the society. As the author says all people who embrace solitude are termed either mad or sad or bad. This can get extended to psychos or sociopaths or extreme nerd and what not.
The author points out that solitude is often seen as countercultural in current settings. And she finds this amusing because we live at a time when personal freedom and liberty is valued much more than before.
Towards the end of the book she points out some of the joys of solitude. First of all being able to realise the self. In the times of hurry and rat race it's important to self introspect and solitude provides that luxury. The second and perhaps the most important joy is the attunement to nature. To witness the majesty of nature one must embrace solitude and this cannot be denied at all. The third joy according to author is the ability to connect to divine.
As a whole it's a wonderful read. Although one might feel that author wants everybody to embrace solitude and here is the part where its gets trickier. I mean the whole premise of the book started with stating that embracing solitude is countercultural but then repeated attempts to persuade people is not necessary really. I mean it's fine if people pick community living over solitude. I guess every option should be respected as far as it is free choice.
The author points out that solitude is often seen as countercultural in current settings. And she finds this amusing because we live at a time when personal freedom and liberty is valued much more than before.
Towards the end of the book she points out some of the joys of solitude. First of all being able to realise the self. In the times of hurry and rat race it's important to self introspect and solitude provides that luxury. The second and perhaps the most important joy is the attunement to nature. To witness the majesty of nature one must embrace solitude and this cannot be denied at all. The third joy according to author is the ability to connect to divine.
As a whole it's a wonderful read. Although one might feel that author wants everybody to embrace solitude and here is the part where its gets trickier. I mean the whole premise of the book started with stating that embracing solitude is countercultural but then repeated attempts to persuade people is not necessary really. I mean it's fine if people pick community living over solitude. I guess every option should be respected as far as it is free choice.