Silence: In the Age of Noise

A beautiful book. A book which I was hoping someone would write for me. A book I’ve been waiting for someone to write for years.Silence is a commodity. We ought to teach ourselves and our children to embrace it. Not to be fearful of it. To celebrate the immense teaching and self realisation potential if offers those prepared to invest in it - rather than filling every space with acoustic ’stuff’.Especially in this day and age. In the time where so many people know the price of everything, yet the value of nothing. The age of constant noise and superfluous information. Where everyone needs to be noticed and heard and understood.As a professional wearer of headphones, I know I’m gradually destroying my ears. I work with sound but I cherish all my silence. The physical silence, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual. The total emptiness between thoughts.Just the present. Just the breath.Simple meditation, I suppose.

I really enjoyed this book. Read it in two sittings. Really makes you think and resonated with me as I’m definitely someone who needs silence and this book made perfect sense to me. It’s not too heavy or serious and quite a small book so an easy read. Highly recommended

Such a soulful, revealing read.There's been books on silence but this one really made me feel it.One of the few books I could not put down and read in three sittings.So good x

This is a short and most intriguing book. Through a series of short and profound chapters, the author invites us to be open to listening and seeing silence in the most unexpected of places. You may wish to do it like him - by travelling to the South Pole and other wild areas. Or you can certainly find it right where you are now. Ultimately, as he points out at the end of the book, you have to find subtract, and find your own South Pole. This book provides a good outline map.

Beautifully presented but lacks any real substance. Poignant observations are followed up by limited practical applications. An enjoyable read which temporarily encourages lateral thinking and escapism from modern society.

Reading this book gave me a sense of being fed and watered: it met a need in me to know that there are others who yearn for the silence of wild spaces in the midst of the daily noise of life.There are messages and hints built in but it’s not a how-to book, rather a meditation on stillness.I was very drawn to it and will go back to it time and again.I wish I could meet the man and say nothing to him, just spend time in his company. And others like him and me, looking for the same.

This book is a series of short essays around the theme of silence. Pascal once said, and the quote is to be found in this book, “the problem with man is that his inability to sit in a room in silence for more than 15 minutes“ or something along those lines. What I liked about this book is it it made me think about how much I sometimes crave silence, particularly in the world that is becoming more obsessed by sound and noise all the time. Once upon a time your grandparents might hear Beethoven‘s fifth once in their life, now I can access it every day on a YouTube video on my phone for free. And perhaps in that we lose something. One of the things I truly love is going for a walk, perhaps not to the South Pole like the author, but you can still find your own silence and peace in nature which allows your mind to become free and untethered. And that’s what I got from this book, this book is short but quite profound and philosophical look at why we should strive for more silence in our lives. The audiobook also features sound effects that play on your ears. It made the listen even more rewarding. I also liked the description that sound is movement in air, that obviously we detect with our ears.

What a wonderful book! His experiences have been shared upon the pages as though we were next to him in the snow and freezing temperatures. To behold the silence then having the ability to transform into this poetic book is sublime. A reminder that we need less than we believe and are more than what meets our eyes in the morning. A beautiful addition to my meditation practise and teachings. Thank you. 🙏🏼