A sharp and unconventional book - a swirl of memoir, travelogue and biography of some of history's champion day-dreamers and a spirited inquiry into the lost value of leisure and daydream.  This book is a picaresque travelogue of leisure written from a lifelong enchantment with solitude.

To use the term favored by the Trappist monk and mystic Thomas Merton," Fenton suggests the socially uninclined be referred to as "solitaries," and he strives to reframe their stories (and his own) under society's critical eye.

How to foster fellowship through fearlessness and visibility.  Brown turns her attention to cultivating community and the power of belonging in the midst of an era of disconnection.

 

After contracting polio as a child, Sandra Gail Lambert progressed from braces and crutches to a manual wheelchair to a power wheelchair -- but loneliness has remained a constant, from the wild claustrophobia of a child in body casts to just yesterday, trapped at home, gasping from pain.

 

A collection of intimate, illustrated essays by some of America's most well-regarded literary writers explores how comfort food can help us cope with dark times -- be it the loss of a parent, the loneliness of a move, or the pain of heartache.

by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

Crossing through loneliness in search of communal pleasure in Seattle, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore exposes the failure and persistence of queer dreams, the hypocritical allure of gay male sexual culture, and the stranglehold of the suburban imagination over city life. 

This book shows you how applying kindfulness to the difficult side of friendship can help you mend your heart, move on and get the best out of those friendships that really matter.

Here are the tips and tools readers need to make new pals and improve the quality of existing friendships. Insightful, empathetic, and just a touch irreverent, the advice stresses practicality, self-forgiveness, and inclusivity, with scripts and step-by step guides. 

Each chapter of this book contains a singular, timeless lesson for today's turbulent age.  These lessons strike a universal chord about self-discovery, identity, anger, depression, loneliness, friendship, and family -- perfect for anyone searching for a way to effect healing change in a fractured world.

A neuroscientist demonstrates the correlation between social environments and health, offering insight into the differences between chronic loneliness and depression while explaining how social isolation can affect perceptions, behavior, and physiology.

The Lonely City : Adventures in the Art of Being Alone
 

by Olivia Laing

You can be lonely anywhere, but there is a particular flavor to the loneliness that comes from living in a city, surrounded by thousands of strangers. The Lonely City is a roving cultural history of urban loneliness, centered on the ultimate city: Manhattan, that teeming island of gneiss, concrete, and glass.

 

Why does being alone = being lonely? Why do we stop working on ourselves when we're in a relationship? After a painful divorce, Kim began to rebuild his relationship with himself, going from alone and disconnected to alone and fulfilled. 

Addresses the chronic loneliness affecting a high percentage of people today, discussing the vulnerabilities of high-pressure, tech-driven environments and how to view solitude through a spiritual lens.

shows how cultivating the powerful, mysterious, and fragile bond between humans and other animals can improve our mental, physical, and spiritual health, protect our planet, and serve as an antidote to the loneliness of our species.

 

"For more than a century," writes Murthy, "the physicians holding this office [the surgeon general's] have addressed national health crises ranging from yellow fever and influenza outbreaks to the aftermath of hurricanes and tornados to the terrorist attacks on 9/11." The epidemic he was called on to address (the overarching plague of loneliness) took more insidious forms: eating disorders, depression, opioid and other chemical addiction, and suicide.

available in alternate format(s)
 

by Michael Finkel

Police officers arrested Christopher Knight for burglary, but when they questioned him further, they discovered that their suspect had been living alone in the wild for 27 years. Why had the "North Pond hermit"  turned his back on society?

 

The author leans into the deeply personal topic of rejection and takes readers on a journey to explore its roots; the lies we believe as a result; and the truth about who God is, who we are, and what it looks like to live loved.

An intimate, revelatory book exploring the ways we can care for and repair ourselves when life knocks us down.  May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.

 For women in transition between late-middle and old age, life becomes more difficult. Loss, especially through death, becomes the new norm as women see their bodies and minds devalued by society.