His chief form of entertainment was reading. The last moments he was in a cabin were usually spent scanning bookshelves and nightstands. The life inside a book always felt welcoming to Knight. It pressed no demands on him, while the world of actual human interactions was so complex. Conversations between people can move like tennis games, swift and unpredictable. There are constant subtle visual and verbal cues, there's innuendo, sarcasm, body language, tone. Everyone occasionally fumbles an encounter, a victim of social clumsiness. It's part of being human. To Knight, it all felt impossible. His engagement with the written word might have been the closest he could come to genuine human encounters. The stretch of days between thieving raids allowed him to tumble into the pages, and if he felt transported he could float in bookworld, undisturbed, for as long as he pleased. Michael Finkel
About This Quote

The quote above describes how someone who is into reading can live without the hassle and chaos of social life. The writer says that to him the book world is always welcoming and he never feel disturbed and he could stay there as long as he want to.

Source: The Stranger In The Woods: The Extraordinary Story Of The Last True Hermit

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