Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude Audiobook (Free)

‘In Paris (or anywhere else, actually) a table for one could be a most wonderful place.’ –Alone Time, as observed in The New York Times

A sensible, passionate account from the pleasures of journeying solo

In our increasingly frantic daily lives, many folks are genuinely fearful of the chance of solitude, but time alone could be both rich and restorative, especially when travelling. Through on-the-ground reporting and recounting the encounters of artists, authors, and innovators who appreciated solitude, about Only Period: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude Stephanie Rosenbloom considers how being alone like a traveller–and even in one’s very own city–is conducive to becoming acutely aware of the sensual details of the world–patterns, textures, colours, tastes, sounds–in ways that are difficult to accomplish together with others.

Alone Period is divided into 4 parts, each set in a different town, within a different period, within a calendar year. The destinations–Paris, Istanbul, Florence, New York–are all pedestrian-friendly, allowing travelers to slow down and appreciate casual pleasures instead of hurtling through museums and posting photos to Instagram. Each section spotlights a different theme associated with the joys and great things about time alone and exactly how it could enable people to enrich their lives–facilitating creativity, learning, self-reliance, as well as the capability to experiment and switch. Rosenbloom includes insights from psychologists and sociologists who’ve analyzed solitude and pleasure, and explores such topics as eating alone, learning to savor, discovering passions and passions, and obtaining or creating silent areas. Her interesting and elegant prose makes Only Time as warmly romantic an account as the details of a trip shared with a beloved friend–and could have its many readers eager to set off independently solo adventures.