Retreat

We typically live tangled in our busy routines. Segnit takes us on a delightful expedition into the ancient personal quest to decamp, relinquish, discover

David Eagleman, neuroscientist at Stanford University, author of Livewired

A rich and almost eerily timely book, Nat Segnit's exploration of the history and meaning of retreat maps copious research onto a vivid personal quest that reads at times like Eat Pray Love as written by David Foster Wallace

William Fiennes, author of The Snow Geese

To read this marvellous book is to be absorbed in Segnit's personal search for retreat, illuminated by science, erudition and art, and reminded of the grand retreat of a book that speaks to one of the fundamentals of life

Zia Haider Rahman, author of In the Light of What We Know

This lovely book is a retreat in itself - into history, psychology, religion, individuals and the almost universal human desire to escape everyone, even one's self, every now and again. It persuades us, with an excellent mix of charm and erudition, that going in can be the real adventure

Louisa Young, author of You Left Early: a True Story of Love and Alcohol

With a charming blend of sincerity and intellectual curiosity, Segnit leads us sure-footedly into the wilderness ... moving, even inspiring

Literary Review

An open-minded, elegantly written and comprehensive attempt to gather together the many threads of the global retreat movement

Peter Stanford, Daily Telegraph