*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
Title: Silence in the Age of Noise
Author: Erling Kagge
Publisher: Pantheon
Publication Date: November 21, 2017 (First published in 2016)
ISBN: 9781524733230
Synopsis from Goodreads:
There is a solution to the noise, distraction, ceaseless pings and alerts that undermine our patience and disturb our daily equilibrium: silence. What is silence? Where is it? How do we create it? These are the starting points for ErlingKagge’s journey, an adventure that allows him to recount his own experiences (he once spent 50 days walking solo in Antarctica without radio contact) as well as discuss the observations of other poets, artists, and explorers.
This book is an excellent meditation on finding silence in a noisy and ever engaged world. We live in a time where technology and connectedness rule and so infrequently do we forget what it means to have a moment of peace–in sound and thought. Kagge’s text is brief and compact, but elegant and beautiful. He incorporates his own anecdotes and experiences through written word as well images to reflect on what silence is and what it has meant in his own life. He shares the observations of others including artists, explorers, and writers to draw the reader’s attention to what it means to make space for silence in one’s life.
Silence doesn’t always refer to lack of sound, he defines. Silence can be found as one drives in a car with music turned up to drown out the noise of the world around. Although I didn’t always find each argument to be as thoroughly fleshed out as it could be, I do find that the overall message and thoughts in this book have stuck with me. Kagge ruminates on silence as a means to creativity, wonder, and happiness. In turn, he’s inspired me to dwell on the same. His book, in a way, is a silence itself. It inspires an opening of thought to reflect inwardly on life and to move towards a place of gratitude, meditation, and imagination.
This book is beautiful inside and out. The cover is absolutely stunning. I would buy this book simply for the minimal mountain landscape and peaceful varied rose palette. Full of images that bring to mind absolute stillness and silence, this book is really a work of art as well as a contemplation. It’s definitely a worthwhile read. At the start of the year when everyone is thinking about resolutions, this book is a great way to find a resolution to instill peace within each and every reader.
Worn Pages and Ink 