The Buddha. Rene Descartes. Emily Dickinson. Greta Garbo. Bobby Fischer. J. D. Salinger: Loners, all{u2014}along with as many as 25 percent of the world's population. Loners keep to themselves, and like it that way. Party of one : the loners' manifesto

The Buddha. Rene Descartes. Emily Dickinson. Greta Garbo. Bobby Fischer. J. D. Salinger: Loners, all—along with as many as 25 percent of the world’s population. Loners keep to themselves, and like it that way. Yet in the press, in films, in folklore, and nearly everywhere one looks, loners are tagged as losers and psychopaths, perverts and pity cases, ogres and mad bombers, elitists and wicked witches. Too often, loners buy into those messages and strive to change, making themselves miserable in the process by hiding their true nature—and hiding from it. Loners as a group deserve to be reassessed—to claim their rightful place, rather than be perceived as damaged goods that need to be “fixed.” In Party of One Anneli Rufus -- a prize-winning, critically acclaimed writer with talent to burn -- has crafted a morally urgent, historically compelling tour de force—a long-overdue argument in defense of the loner, then and now. Marshalling a polymath’s easy erudition to make her case, assembling evidence from every conceivable arena of culture as well as interviews with experts and loners worldwide and her own acutely calibrated analysis, Rufus rebuts the prevailing notion that aloneness is indistinguishable from loneliness, the fallacy that all of those who are alone don’t want to be, and wouldn’t be, if only they knew how. Rhonda Stewart In Party of One , Rufus, an editor at the East Bay Express in California, mixes research, interviews, and opinion to make her case. But the author is most compelling when she homes in on a few concrete examples rather than piling them on without developing her points. The insightful chapters on the myths that loners are friendless and incapable of love are cases in point.—The Boston Globe An essential defense of the people the world loves to revile -- the loners -- yet without whom it would be lost The Buddha. Rene Descartes. Emily Dickinson. Greta Garbo. Bobby Fischer. J. D. Loners, all -- along with as many as 25 percent of the world's population. Loners keep to themselves, and like it that way. Yet in the press, in films, in folklore, and nearly everywhere one looks, loners are tagged as losers and psychopaths, perverts and pity cases, ogres and mad bombers, elitists and wicked witches. Too often, loners buy into those messages and strive to change, making themselves miserable in the process by hiding their true nature -- and hiding from it. Loners as a group deserve to be reassessed -- to claim their rightful place, rather than be perceived as damaged goods that need to be "fixed." In Party of One Anneli Rufus--a prize-winning, critically acclaimed writer with talent to burn -- has crafted a morally urgent, historically compelling tour de force -- a long-overdue argument in defense of the loner, then and now. Marshalling a polymath's easy erudition to make her case, assembling evidence from every conceivable arena of culture as well as interviews with experts and loners worldwide and her own acutely calibrated analysis, Rufus rebuts the prevailing notion that aloneness is indistinguishable from loneliness, the fallacy that all of those who are alone don't want to be, and wouldn't be, if only they knew how. introduction village people listen to us do you feel lucky? marlboro country i have to go now just catch me power surge the diving bell singular glamour jesus, mary and jennifer lopez new disorder the l-word bizzare as i wanna be the sleeve said don't go there absolutely, totally alone smiling bandits afterword endnotes bibliography A celebration of the "loner" reassesses the cultural revulsion heaped on this type--a group with members as diverse as Rene Descartes, Emily Dickinson, and Greta Garbo--and re-evaluates their role in society. Original. From a writer with talent to burn-a grand defence of the cultural figure we love to revile-and from whom we all stand to gain IMAGINE YOU'RE A loner whose ideal home would be a cottage on the beach, miles from the nearest neighbor.