On Deep Work, Cal Newport recalls how Carl Jung built the Bollinger Tower to be away from his daily obligations in Zurich in order to produce high level work. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Melville would do the same.
By the way, for those of you interested in Deep Work, I've put together some notes here: http://alvaroduran.com/deep-work. Any feedback is much appreciated
This is a great opportunity to remind people to read the first post-modern American novel: The Confidence Man: His Masquerade, by Herman Melville. First published on April 1st and set on the same day.