The Art of the Wasted Day

Patricia Hampl travels the world to visit the homes of historic people who lived lives of intentional seclusion or leisure, from monks to scholars to wealthy Victorian weirdos. Then she convinces her husband to sail with her down the Mississippi. Part travelogue, part memoir, part meditation on the value of solitude, contemplation, and opting out of the rat race. 

(This book may contain a small, black sharpie mark on the bottom edge, so that it can't be returned to a different wholesaler.)