Silence in the Age of Noise

Silence in the Age of Noise, by Erling Kagge, is  about what the title suggests.  Kagge is something of a renaissance man, an author, explorer, businessman, a father of three teenage daughters. For fifty days he traveled alone to the South Pole.  He now works in an office. So he has had just about the most varied experience of environments as possible. The doctrine of silence, of simply shutting up and shutting off, in our overheated, connected world, he claims, is vital.

Kagge takes us on a gentle investigation of the benefits of silence, and even boredom.  By going inside ourselves, we find out that is all we need; monks go to mountains to learn this, sailors find out on long sea voyages.  It doesn’t matter where you are or even what you are doing.  Cultivating silence within is key.