AN ISLAND TO MYSELF

An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life (Monkfish Publishing) invites you to experience the transformative power of solitude in the midst of a full and active life.

Click on the cover or title above to order it on Bookshop.org, or ask for it at your favorite bookstore.

It is also available from Amazon.

Praise and reviews:

“In this inspiring and hope-filled journey into the heart of solitude, McGregor takes us to the hinterlands of grace, and in the healing silence of a still heart and mind, we discover the antidote to a loneliness that plagues many of us these days, fed by consumption, competition, and a tendency to commodify relationships.”

—Patrick Hannon, author of Sacrament: Personal Encounters with Memories, Wounds, Dreams, and Unruly Hearts

“To dwell in solitude without feeling lonely, one must be open to a presence that’s inaccessible in the midst of even the dearest human companions. In search of that elusive presence, Michael N. McGregor has repeatedly taken leave from loved ones and workaday tasks, seeking stillness in a library, a park, a rustic cabin, a borrowed apartment, a Greek island, and other retreats. Over the course of decades, from restless youth to grateful elder, he has gathered insights into his character, his values, his past and possible futures. By accompanying him in his search, we may be inspired to undertake solitary sojourns of our own.”

—Scott Russell Sanders, author of The Way of Imagination

“Solitude is one of the most misunderstood words in the English language. Many of us would prefer to avoid being alone. But when we allow solitude to take us by the hand, we realize it is a guide, a doorway we step through to discover the most consequential person in our life: our self. As we follow along in this page-turner of a book—from the Greek island of Patmos to the San Juan Islands, Whidbey Island, and a myriad of other places McGregor has experienced solitude—we start to understand that being still is also a way to keep moving, to keep going deeper into the discovery of our true purpose and being.”

—Judith Valente, former faith and values correspondent for PBS-TV, author of The Art of Pausing and How to Be

“I finished An Island to Myself within the whirlwind of my screen-mediated over-extended life, one where my harried attention leaps quickly here then there and back again. Yet McGregor’s book is not finished with me. Its steady openhearted questions about fulfillment, gratitude, beauty, love, and meaning still call to me from within. His patient and humble account of the difficulties and rewards of seeking solitude, not in order to be alone and separate, but ultimately to love and connect more fully and more deeply with life, is one I won’t soon forget.”

—David Naimon, co-author of Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations On Writing, and host of the radio show and podcast Between The Covers

“Michael N. McGregor’s forty-year courtship of solitude is exacting, frank about the paradoxes of the journey, utterly determined to see his investigation through, and faithful to a helpful decision to include the journey’s contradictions. Bolstered by a counterpoint of epigraphs on solitude ranging from Wordsworth to Einstein, Epictetus to Proust, Anne Frank to Susan Sontag, Joan Didion to Rumi, Franz Kafka to bell hooks, and more, journey’s end brings McGregor to conclusions that are thoroughly flight-tested, uniquely his own, and invaluable to lovers of solitude counter-balanced with active lives.”

—David James Duncan, author of The Brothers K and Sun House

“Nothing is harder to find these days than quality time with oneself. We are always trying to run away from ourselves, chasing a million distractions. Yet the solitude we crave and, perhaps, dread, is right within our reach, within a moment’s capture. In An Island to Myself, Michael McGregor, in luminous, evocative prose, reminds us why it’s worth our while to embrace the present and seize the day. Maybe even on the island of our choice.”

– Linda Lappin, California Review of Books (Read the full review here.)

“Candid and conversational…An Island to Myself is a satisfying memoir about a transformative search for meaning among the small, often overlooked everyday moments.”

– Kristine Morris, Forward Reviews (Read the full review here.)

“In his latest book, An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life, McGregor shares a rich experience of solitude discovered through years of searching in many different places…[His] memoir is an engaging and meaningful contribution to the repertoire on solitude.”

 – Jack Collins, The Merton Seasonal, Summer 2025 (Read the full review here.)

“This thoughtful, reflective book…takes us on a journey to episodes of solitude experienced in multiple dimensions – in the isolations of childhood and refuge in libraries, as part of a spiritual retreat at the ecumenical community in Taize, snatched amongst the travails and joys of being a tour guide and in the context of an unfolding writer’s life, both as a single man and a happily married one. In each of these contexts, solitude unfolds its offerings to thought and experience. The challenges of letting go of the habits of distraction, the joys of being simply present when the world renews its colours, the need for solitude not as an escape from the world but as a renewing entrance into it. All enhanced by Michael’s vivid descriptions of context and place, and the inner contours of his experience, not all of which is pleasant. Solitude reveals our fears and fantasies, as well as our renewing, imagined possibilities.”

– Nicholas Colloff, Golgonooza (Read the full review here.)

“This richly layered book will inspire your own search for meaning and creativity in solitude, a state far more complex than a retreat from the world. In contrast, the author discovers that seeking solitude makes him more able to give to others in his family and community. An inspiring book to keep by your bedside to savor and reread.”

– Joanne Mulcahy, reviewer, Rain Taxi (Her review is unavailable online.)
 

Here’s the publisher’s description:

An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life

The power of solitude to deepen a life.

In his twenties, Michael N. McGregor traveled to the remote Greek island of Patmos to spend two winter months alone, 6,000 miles from home. It was a time before cellphones and the internet, when even a phone call was costly. Although he expected his solitude to be meaningful, he wasn’t prepared for how it would change him.

Before his island days, McGregor had spent years reporting on the world’s poor and months on the road. As he settled into days of rigorous writing, evening walks through fierce wind, and nights full of memories, dreams and spiritual encounters, he learned that solitude can be difficult and even dangerous, but also awe-inspiring and life-altering.

When he returned to his active life, McGregor sought solitude wherever he could—in nature, in libraries, in silent spaces—before returning to Patmos forty years later to repeat his youthful experiment.

$22.95

Also available at Amazon.

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