Thoughts In Solitude

Thoughts In Solitude
by Thomas Merton

Thoughts In Solitude
List Price: $13.00
Our Price: $7.00
You Save: $6.00 (46%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.51 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Thomas Merton
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1999-11-29
ISBN: 0374513252
Number of pages: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Book Reviews of Thoughts In Solitude

Book Review: People suck! Just kidding. Sort of...
Summary: 4 Stars

4.5 stars

Merton's 1950s musings on the need for solitude and contemplation ring truer than ever on our dangerously (fatally?) overpopulated planet. His writing and thinking are clear and concise, and he doesn't let his religion get in the way of his spirituality. Whatever your concept of the Great Spirit, God, etc, it's easy to find wisdom here.
A gentle, truly humble soul, Merton is his own best testimony to the benefits of shutting out the world and letting your inner voice have its say. This is maybe the most accessible of Merton's writings, and if the far-right wackos who currently control America would open their minds to these concepts, we'd all be living in a much more peaceful and loving world. Killing people to pave the way for God's love; it's an old concept but it's still going strong.
Truly religious men like Merton make clear what true Christianity is: loving ALL thy neighbours.

Summary of Thoughts In Solitude

Thoughtful and eloquent, as timely (or timeless) now as when it was originally published in 1956, Thoughts in Solitude addresses the pleasure of a solitary life, as well as the necessity for quiet reflection in an age when so little is private. Thomas Merton writes: "When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. But when men are violently deprived of the solitude and freedom which are their due, the society in which they live becomes putrid, it festers with servility, resentment and hate."Thoughts in Solitude stands alongside The Seven Storey Mountain as one of Merton's most uring and popular works. Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, is perhaps the foremost spiritual thinker of the twentiethcentury. His diaries, social commentary, and spiritual writings continue to be widely read after his untimely death in 1968.

The renowned Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote Thoughts in Solitude in 1953 and 1954, when his superiors allowed him extended periods of seclusion and meditation. This elegant gift book, with clean, spare type and graphics, does justice to a 20th-classic (this is its 25th printing). What has made this book such an enduring and popular work is that it recognizes how important solitude is to our morality, integrity, and ability to love. One does not have to be a monk to find solitude, notes Merton; solitude can be found in the act of contemplation and silent reflection in everyday life. Also, this is not a pious book that assumes that a relationship with the divine can be obtained only by denying our humanity and striving for saintliness. Instead, Merton asserts that connection with God can most easily be made through "respect for temperament, character, and emotion and for everything that makes us human." --Gail Hudson

Catholic Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in sacred solitude
Corrette: Les D?lices de la solitude ImageCorrette: Les D?lices de la solitude
Release date: 2006-05-30; Music CD
Best price: $11.30
Price in other shops: $16.98
Purcell: O Solitude ImagePurcell: O Solitude
Release date: 2007-10-30; Music CD
Best price: $8.37
Price in other shops: $12.98
The Happy Introvert: A Wild and Crazy Guide for Celebrating Your True Self ImageThe Happy Introvert: A Wild and Crazy Guide for Celebrating Your True Self
by Elizabeth Wagele
Ulysses Press; Published: 2006-06-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.36
Price in other shops: $14.95
Silence, Solitude, Simplicity: A Hermit's Love Affair with a Noisy, Crowded, and Complicated World ImageSilence, Solitude, Simplicity: A Hermit's Love Affair with a Noisy, Crowded, and Complicated World
by Jeremy Hall
Liturgical Press; Published: 2007-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.71
Price in other shops: $14.95
Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life ImageOut of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life
by Henri J. M. Nouwen
Ave Maria Press; Published: 2004-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops: $7.95
Thoughts In Solitude ImageThoughts In Solitude
by Thomas Merton
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 1999-11-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops: $13.00
Dialogues with Silence: Prayers & Drawings ImageDialogues with Silence: Prayers & Drawings
by Thomas Merton
HarperOne; Published: 2004-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops: $14.95
A Pelican in the Wilderness: Hermits and Solitaries ImageA Pelican in the Wilderness: Hermits and Solitaries
by Isabel Colegate
Counterpoint Press; Published: 2002-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.84
Price in other shops: $25.00
Intimacy and Solitude ImageIntimacy and Solitude
by Stephanie Dowrick
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1996-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.45
Price in other shops: $16.95
Solitude: A Return to the Self ImageSolitude: A Return to the Self
by Anthony Storr
Free Press; Published: 2005-09-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.70
Price in other shops: $14.95
Similar Books and other products
Echoing Silence: Thomas Merton on the Vocation of Writing ImageEchoing Silence: Thomas Merton on the Vocation of Writing
by Thomas Merton
New Seeds; Published: 2007-02-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.91
Price in other shops: $14.00
Mystics and Zen Masters ImageMystics and Zen Masters
by Thomas Merton
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 1999-11-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.32
Price in other shops: $16.00
Life and Holiness ImageLife and Holiness
by Thomas Merton
Image; Published: 1969-09-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.80
Price in other shops: $10.95
Praying the Psalms (By Thomas Merton) ImagePraying the Psalms (By Thomas Merton)
by Thomas Merton
Liturgical Press; Published: 1956-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.86
Price in other shops: $4.95
A Book of Hours ImageA Book of Hours
by Thomas Merton
Sorin Books; Published: 2007-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.49
Price in other shops: $18.95
Contemplative Prayer ImageContemplative Prayer
by Thomas Merton
Image; Published: 1971-02-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops: $10.95
Spiritual Direction and Meditation ImageSpiritual Direction and Meditation
by Thomas Merton
Liturgical Press; Published: 1986-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.96
Price in other shops: $7.95
New Seeds of Contemplation (New Directions Paperbook) ImageNew Seeds of Contemplation (New Directions Paperbook)
by Thomas Merton
New Directions; Published: 2007-11-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.26
Price in other shops: $15.95
No Man Is an Island ImageNo Man Is an Island
by Thomas Merton
Shambhala; Published: 2005-06-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.41
Price in other shops: $18.95
The Seven Storey Mountain ImageThe Seven Storey Mountain
by Thomas Merton
Harvest Books; Published: 1999-10-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops: $16.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories