TOW #8 - How to Be Alone (IRB Part 2)

As I continued to read this book, I didn't particularly feel much changed. The rest of the essays were continuing the same themes as the first half of the book, although there was a larger variety of topics, including the prison system, and his favorite authors. They all served to define what being alone means, and whether being alone is a good thing or something that causes harm. Although the essays themselves were interesting, I think overall the author seemed to be a little bit pretentious, because he wrote a lot about things he's done, and saying that people who read serious fiction or fiction that is difficult to read are somehow "better" than people who don't do that, or that people who don't own modern technology are "better" than people who do, because they are caught up in what is popular or new. Much of the language he used was elevated as well, which could make the audience less able to understand the points he is trying to make, as well as alienating readers who aren't interested in trying to decipher the language. He also seemed to flaunt his accomplishments frequently, such as reading The Recognitions. Overall, I do think the essays provided interesting perspective on what being alone actually is, and whether you actually want to be alone. He definitely developed his ethos throughout the book, he made sure people knew he was credible to speak about the topics, some of which were about his personal life. Also, much of what he said was based on personal experience. At some points though, it was a bit difficult to understand what his point actually was, because he would jump from one topic to another without explanation or warning. His version of alone was not necessarily being isolated from others physically (such as in the prison described in the Control Units essay), but often mentally as well, such as his father having Alzheimer's or not embracing technology. Some of them didn't even focus on the individual, but rather on a unit, such as the city of Chicago on why they were an outlier in mail delivery. I don't think it was how to be alone exactly, but rather how being "alone" affects us.