His chief form of entertainment was reading. The last moments he was in a cabin were usually spent scanning bookshelves and nightstands. The life inside a book always felt welcoming to Knight. It pressed no demands on him, while the world of actual human interactions was so complex. Conversations between people can move like tennis games, swift and unpredictable. There are constant subtle visual and verbal cues, there's innuendo, sarcasm, body language, tone. Everyone occasionally fumbles an encounter, a victim of social clumsiness. It's part of being human.To Knight, it all felt impossible. His engagement with the written word might have been the closest he could come to genuine human encounters. The stretch of days between thieving raids allowed him to tumble into the pages, and if he felt transported he could float in bookworld, undisturbed, for as long as he pleased.
body-language book bookshelves bookworld cabin complex constant conversations cues demands encounter encounters engagement entertainment float fumbles games genuine human impossible innuendo interactions nightstands people pleased raids reading sarcasm social-clumsiness subtle swift tennis thieving tone transported tumble undisturbed unpredictable verbal victim visual welcoming word world written

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About Michael Finkel, The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

Michael Finkel, The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit.

More quotes by Michael Finkel, The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

“With his release imminent, Knight seems more unsettled than ever. He scratches furiously at his knees. Jail, he's realized, might not be all bad. There's routine and order in jail, and he's able to...”
— Michael Finkel, The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit
bad desirable expected furiously

“It's possible that Knight believed he was one of the few sane people left. He was confounded by the idea that passing the prime of your life in a cubicle, spending hours a day at a computer, in exc...”
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acceptable computer confounded cubicle

“I'm not used to seeing people's faces. There's too much information there. Aren't you aware of it? Too much, too fast.”
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faces overwhelmed people

“Modern life seems set up so that we can avoid loneliness at all costs, but maybe it's worthwhile to face it occasionally. The further we push aloneness away, the less are we able to cope with it, a...”
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“He left because the world is not made to accommodate people like him.”
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“Passion must be subject to reason; emotions lead one astray. "There was no one to complain to in the woods, so I did not complain.”
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complaining emotions passion
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