Overall, I enjoyed the book, & greatly enjoyed learning about different forms of retreat & the author's own experience. I also was impressed that Kirsteen pointed out the (sadly many) practitioners who had later been proved to be problematic, as is so often looked over. The book did take a long time to get going though, so much so that I almost gave up within the first 20% or so - it was just the same thing said over & over again without anything more helpful added. Once it got going though her descriptions were very real & it's been validating to hear the benefits of retreat.

I found the author’s overt privileges difficult to reconcile with the average reader’s potential for retreat, and as such could not get into the book. I am however grateful for the review copy.

This feels timely as many of us are rediscovering solitude but soon will have to be more intentional about seeking it out. I feel this is a good pairing with Wintering.

This was a very interesting look into the lives of those that have retreated from society, both religiously and not, and the various reasons behind them. The author journeyed to many of the people that she writes about, taking on their steps, daily routines, and stories.

This book wasn't exactly what I expected it to be, but it was still interesting in the ways that it talked about how we interact with society, how we view those who step away from it, and how we tell the stories of the world.

“Going nowhere ... isn’t about turning your back on the world; it’s about stepping away now and then so that you can see the world more clearly and love it more deeply.”
— Leonard Cohen

Drawing on her own experiences, and the wisdom of hermits, monks, pilgrims, naturalists, writers and artists, solitary thinkers and other independent spirits, Kirsteen MacLeod explores the art of retreat and how it can reconnect us to our essence — and why this is a matter of urgency in modern times.

‘In Praise of Retreat’ resonates strongly with me. Long before I read about extroverts, introverts and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I have always required regular spaces of silence and solitude. This is time which fosters independent thinking, creativity, and connection with self, others and the planet. This is how I return to myself.

I’ve read a number of interesting books relating to retreats: Jane Hirschfield’s ‘Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry’; Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s ‘Gift from the Sea’, Sara Maitland’s ‘A Book of Silence’; May Sarton’s ‘Journal of a Solitude’; Rebecca Solnit’s ‘Wanderlust: A History of Walking’; Cheryl Strayed’s ‘Wild’; Susan Cain’s ‘Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking’ and Virginia Woolf’s ‘A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas’. ‘In Praise of Retreat’ will fit neatly among these well-loved books.

This is not a memoir although MacLeod includes her own beautifully written personal experiences. She has done a great deal of research into the history of retreats and this is equally interesting.

‘In Praise of Retreat’ is engaging and will be a balm to anyone who has been called ‘anti-social’ by family and friends or been made to feel guilty because of their need for silence and time on their own. “Resist much, obey little” (Walt Whitman) when it comes to claiming time apart.

A huge thank you to @NetGalley and @ECWPress for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this book. As other reviewers have mentioned, it's not quite what I expected. The tone and content shift after the opening section. MacLeod interweaves thorough research with personal experiences, often prioritizing historical information over her own extensive practice of going on retreats--so don't go into it expecting a memoir. MacLeod's writing is sharp and poignant, though, and I was so glad to sit down and spend time thinking about the benefits of taking time away to reflect, recharge, and work toward a goal.

Really enjoyed reading this thoughtful guide to retreat restore your mind your soul. I enjoyed the advice the authors voice.I feel everyone needs time to take deep breaths a clear head.So well written will be recommending.# netgalley

I had a hard time getting into this book and finding much applicable to my life. This book was more of a history book than a ‘how to.’

The privilege of constant overseas travel that the author recounts as well as the privilege of owning a second space, when many can’t access affordable housing made this book feel inaccessible to the common person. Additionally, many people could not get the constant amount of time off of work or afford the lost wages.

As someone who has always loved to retreat, I found this book to be nourishing as well as informative. It is deepening my own sense of the importance of retreat in my daily life as well as in the bigger picture of my life’s journey.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The first word to come to mind in describing this book is "comprehensive." This book not only praises the concept of retreat, she tells you about the history of retreat throughout numerous cultures and time periods. This would make a good textbook for a seminary, in that it covers so much of the history of contemplation, monasticism, and the role of hermits in Christian history.

The author's own stories of retreat would have made a good book in and of themselves, and these were the sections of the book that really grabbed my interest. She has lived in retreat in the Canadian wilderness, in Scotland, at an ashram in India, and in the Bahamas.

My only complaint with this book was that it was too much of a good thing. The long, long lists of historical figures who had incorporated retreats into their spiritual lives were informational but got a little tedious. The book has few chapter breaks and no sub-headings, so it's hard to skim through if you want to skip over sections.

In Praise of Retreat is well written and well researched. It is informative and interesting to read. I thought it was a good mix of personal stories, modern experiences and history.

3.5 rounded up

Thank you to the author, ECW Press and NetGalley for providing a copy to review!

A thoughtful guide on different methods of rest and retreat that would be a great gift idea during the pandemic.

From cabins in the forests, to creative sanctuaries and onto pilgrimages the author shares deep truths based on her own personal experience and evidence from experts on the benefits of retreating.

In this book she highlights the practice of being in sync with your inner rhythms and allowing clarity for creativity to flow.

I struggled with some chapters readability only because I found it difficult to relate. But I was captivated on the chapter of “Artists, Writers, Creative Thinkers, Dreamers”. So I guess everyone will have their favourite bits, the rest I skimmed over.

In this day and age where we are constantly connected and wired up, Macleod paints a brilliant picture on how powerful it is to retreat. The author backs up her content with quotes and examples of credible famous people who practice and find pleasure in the experiences of retreats.

Prior to picking up this copy, I had already made some inroads on how I wanted to shape this year in terms of solitude. The book further consolidated the idea.

They say a good book is one that makes you take action, this one definitely will.

Received a ARC via @netgalley grateful to the publishers and author. I was not required to provide a positive review. This is my personal opinion.

I nearly didn't read this book entirely - I found the first part quite disappointing and boring - a lot of rambling about how technology ruins us all, everyone is always connected without any time for reflection, people never take a break, we rely on our phones too much, etc... And a lot about the lovely and humble cabin in the woods the author bought with her husband, which none of her friends enjoyed spending any time in, and how dreadful the neighbours were, even in such a remote location...

But I am glad I persisted and read on because the rest of the book was a lot more interesting, and I really enjoyed it. The best chapters are the ones on monasteries - I learned a lot, and I enjoyed the fact that she wrote a lot about places I know very little about, and how monasteries are adapting to the modern world - turning into a wellness centre, or offering digital detox retreats to wealthy workaholics. The chapters about pilmigrages was fascinating, again because she went in detail about ones I had never heard of - she mentions quite a few in Europe (especially the Camino de Santiago, and a few in the UK - the 'old ways' explored by Robert MacFarlane) but also ways and places that First Nations and Native people use and consider sacred - and how the old beliefs become mixed with the new ones. Lastly Kirsten MacLeod shines particularly when she explores the role of retreat for writers, artists and philosphers and how their work came about out of solitude and voluntary isolation - the paragraphs about Rachel Carson, Elizabeth Bishop or Thoreau were interesting and well-written. I personally was not very interested in the last part about yoga retreats and meditation centres but it was very well-researched and well-written as well.

Overall a very good book - I found it slow to begin with but ended up loving the rest of it. If you have spent the lockdown researching on which remote island you could move to, or if you have created a 'cabincore' board on Pinterest, I highly recommand the book.

I agree. Sometimes retreat is necessary from our hectic, chaotic, workaday lives. I don't have a cabin to escape to, but an overgrown, but lovely small plot of a garden to retreat to and a wooded park and wilderness area nearby. Some days, one just has to sit silent and breathe. It gathers the thoughts, calms the soul, and brings one peace. Ms. MacLeod's circumstances sound lovely, but I think that for most of us, we have to find retreat in smaller places. Lovely book to live vicariously in! I like a good read and this was splendid.

Kirsteen MacLeod's "In Praise of Retreat: Finding Sanctuary in the Modern World" is an engaging and intriguing read exploring the modern ways of retreat - where we go, why we're drawn, and how it's urgent to do so.

"In Praise of Retreat" was never really the book that I expected it to be, occasionally transcending my expectations and occasionally baffling them. I was most successful in reading it when I could let go of my own preconceived notions of what the book should be and simply allow it to be wherever MacLeod took it, though I also found some of MacLeod's historicity, which I certainly didn't really expect, the most engaging aspects of the book.

"In Praise of Retreat" struck me much like a variation of the arthouse movie, a difficult to describe work that doesn't fit nicely into any particular genre yet will likely enchant those who sink into MacLeod's rhythms.

I must confess, however, that I struggled to immerse myself into those rhythms myself. I was never less than engaged by "In Praise of Retreat," though I struggled to truly surrender to it. MacLeod writes from both intellectual and emotional places with great ease, her mind and soul seemingly always processing her own retreat experiences and I must admit that I found myself more at ease with her emotional journeys than her intellectual ones. At times, I found myself completely and utterly enchanted by the lyricism of her soulful experience that would suddenly be met by factual aspects about certain places or certain types of retreat that felt almost defensive as if the experience had butted up against an emotional guardrail and she simply refused to go any further.

While the factual material is fine, the abrupt shift occasionally caused me to disconnect and it would take me a few paragraphs to truly re-engage with the material.

Yet, there's no denying that MacLeod is an engaging writer who has created a wonderfully engaging text that sits comfortably alongside works like "Walden" and "A Book of Silence" among others. For those who've explored retreat or those simply curious, "In Praise of Retreat" is an effective and meaningful exploration of what it means to retreat, the various ways we do it, more than a few of the places one can retreat, and the various reasons one may retreat. MacLeod even seems to explore her own sense of spirituality here, not a person of faith but a person who seems to acknowledge some sense of other of which she becomes more aware in retreat.

We learn, perhaps to the detriment of the book, very little about MacLeod throughout "In Praise of Retreat" other than her experiences with actual retreat and her appreciation for having a partner, Marco, with whom she can share many of the experiences. In fact, strangely enough, I seem to have a much stronger visual of Marco than I do of MacLeod herself.

MacLeod does a tremendously effective job of weaving the history of retreat into the modern experience of retreat, including her own, and undoubtedly regards retreat as a necessity and most certainly not self-indulgent in any unhealthy sense. As someone who has drifted away from what had been regular retreat experiences, though certainly less extreme than MacLeod's, "In Praise of Retreat" often took me back to those experiences with fond memories and even my own body's engagement with what it was like when I retreated regularly.

"In Praise of Retreat" made me long to return to that way of life.

Simultaneously lyrical and instructional, intimate and universal, "In Praise of Retreat" is an informative and engaging work on the importance of retreat in the modern world and will be equally appreciated by those who study retreat and those who simply surrender themselves to it.

"In Praise of Retreat" is due for release in March 2021 by ECW Press.