This was a fast and fascinating read but I'm not really sure just why it grabbed and held my attention. Reading has always been a favorite pass time, but during COVID 2020 it's been difficult to pick up and concentrate on a book. I thought this would be something that I would do to pass the time but that hasn't worked out. So to pick up a book and find it hard to put it down was great.
I'm sure part of the "grab" was the fact that while I am struggling with so much sort-of-mostly alone-quarantine-time here was a man who chose to leave it all behind and just disappear. I'm not going to really give a lot of detail, but consider the idea of living in a tent in Maine in the winter, consider never lighting a fire for warmth because the smoke might lead someone to your location. The details of his life were absolutely fascinating. And there was some consideration, after he was found, about possible/probable mental health issues but the real "why" remained an unanswered question.
There was a paragraph that struck me. "According to more than a dozen studies conducted around the world, Knight's camp - an oasis of natural quiet - may have been the ideal setting to encourage maximal brain function. These studies, examining the difference between living in a calm place and existing amid commotion, all arrived at the same conclusion: noise and distraction are toxic."
It was a good read. It made me re-think some of my reactions to our alone time. We fill the hours with TV shows, puzzles, quilting, dog walking, zoom gatherings, phone calls, emails, web surfing.....lots of screen time. Perhaps my pass times are "toxic" but I'm not sure I'd be willing to give them up.
I guess I'll deal with less than maximal brain function.
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