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A review by forkdogforkfruit
Solitude: A Return to the Self by Anthony Storr
4.0
This is a very insightful book which is full to the brim of quotable lines and material. The topic is explored with copious amounts of detail and a thorough eye making this a book which, despite having the potential to be notoriously difficult to nail down, a concise piece.
The author has broken down Solitude into many mostly manageable chapters and deals with each by introducing the reader to an overview of the chapter's topic and then throwing in some notable "case study" famous people to reference. This helps massively when fleshing out what the author is trying to say as well as giving the reader a short biography about the said case study people to aid in the flow of reading. This makes each chapter very engaging and dissolved any fears I had about this becoming a boring monologue. At the end of each chapter a conclusion is drawn together using the threads of ideas that have been presented throughout the chapter (and later in the book by using threads from earlier chapters). Again this makes the book interesting and kept my attention.
For the most part the themes and points were kept clear to the point where anyone stumbling upon this book would have little difficulty in reading and understanding the material. book about a very difficult topic.
A couple of small points of criticism.
-This book has dated a little in its reliance and over referencing of Freud and Jung. The 1980's are very present in this book in places and the author depends heavily on them for much of several chapters. This is not the fault of the book per se but an over reliance on the two psychoanalysts leaves the book feeling like there is no other information available on the topic.
-The author could easily dispense of a couple of chapters and assimilate them into other chapters such as The Third Period. It felt out of place and not needed as well as feeling like a chapter added purely to illustrate that the author has some working knowledge of classical music and composers.
Overall a good book detailing a difficult topic. The author has done a great job and i recommend this for people interested in this topic.
As a side note, since I read a loaned copy from a friend I was privy to his underlined notes and scribbles which both aided, enriched and made more enjoyable my reading of this book.
The author has broken down Solitude into many mostly manageable chapters and deals with each by introducing the reader to an overview of the chapter's topic and then throwing in some notable "case study" famous people to reference. This helps massively when fleshing out what the author is trying to say as well as giving the reader a short biography about the said case study people to aid in the flow of reading. This makes each chapter very engaging and dissolved any fears I had about this becoming a boring monologue. At the end of each chapter a conclusion is drawn together using the threads of ideas that have been presented throughout the chapter (and later in the book by using threads from earlier chapters). Again this makes the book interesting and kept my attention.
For the most part the themes and points were kept clear to the point where anyone stumbling upon this book would have little difficulty in reading and understanding the material. book about a very difficult topic.
A couple of small points of criticism.
-This book has dated a little in its reliance and over referencing of Freud and Jung. The 1980's are very present in this book in places and the author depends heavily on them for much of several chapters. This is not the fault of the book per se but an over reliance on the two psychoanalysts leaves the book feeling like there is no other information available on the topic.
-The author could easily dispense of a couple of chapters and assimilate them into other chapters such as The Third Period. It felt out of place and not needed as well as feeling like a chapter added purely to illustrate that the author has some working knowledge of classical music and composers.
Overall a good book detailing a difficult topic. The author has done a great job and i recommend this for people interested in this topic.
As a side note, since I read a loaned copy from a friend I was privy to his underlined notes and scribbles which both aided, enriched and made more enjoyable my reading of this book.