Solitude

The theme of solitude is very important to the book. Finkel is intrigued by Knight because of his ability to survive for decades without contact with other people. Finkel, himself, is drawn to the solitude of nature and even to meditation. He feels that Knight must have gained deep wisdom from his time alone. Knight is unable to fully articulate his understanding of solitude, both through his unwillingness to cheapen or package the experience, and also through the nonverbal nature of his understanding. Because Knight is not verbose, Finkel bolsters the exploration of solitude through examining the historical tradition and the writings and understandings of others. This is Finkel’s most deeply explored theme in the book. He puts Knight’s experience in context by proposing that our ancient ancestors all spent significant time in solitude. He describes our constant social interactions as a relatively new phenomenon in...