Listeners hear sirens, traffic, and phones at the start of Erling Kagge's meditation on silence. The noises demonstrate Kagge's need for silence, and various sounds pop up here and there throughout to illustrate or punctuate his points. Narrator Atli Gunnarsson's voice conveys Kagge's feelings well, whether it's the joy of listening to nature at the South Pole or the irritation of noisy everyday life as a publisher in Oslo, Norway. Kagge touches on every aspect of his theme, even the way birds' songs adapt to compete with human noise. The essays are brief, but the adept voice work and ambient sound effects work together well to help Kagge make the case for finding inner silence. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

06/12/2017
Kagge (Under Manhattan), an explorer and publisher, provides 33 answers to three linked questions he poses to himself—“What is silence? Where is it? Why is it more important now than ever?”—in short, meditative essays. The book expands the concepts of silence and noise beyond their aural definitions and engages with modern culture’s information overload, need for constant connection, and cult of busyness. Kagge draws on his experiences as an explorer, including a solo sojourn to the South Pole and a climb up the Williamsburg Bridge, and on more mundane experiences such as his daily commute. He also takes inspiration from famous people as various as Seneca, Kierkegaard, Elon Musk, and Rihanna. An intentionally scattershot bibliography (“an attempt at listing those sources I can easily recall”) may frustrate those wishing to read further. Kagge writes accessibly and economically, supplementing the text with the occasional inclusion of art and photographs. He raises some intriguing ideas—regarding, for example, inequities in access to silence and the concept of silence as a luxury—that could benefit from more examination, but the format requires that he provide only minimal analysis. Great pleasure lies in Kagge’s creative investigations. The reader leaves more mindful of the swirl of distraction present in everyday life. (Dec.)

As much an object as book, something to be handled and savored…. I too remember crunching over ice at the South Pole—though I had not walked there like the author—and thinking about the ethereal quality of silence that the owned world cannot give (no country owns the Antarctic). Erling Kagge captures that wonder on the page.” —Wall Street Journal
 
“A series of lyrical vignettes. . . . Kagge is clearly qualified to write about the soul-reviving benefits of quiet.” —O, The Oprah Magazine

“Kagge . . . writes in a chatty, accessible style and with a healthy dose of humor. . . . Silence . . . offers thoughtful meditations.” —The Minneapolis Star Tribune

“An extraordinarily calming book . . . just the tonic when things get hectic.” —The Irish Times

“A simply extraordinary book anyone with a smart-phone or a social media account would do well to read—and heed.” —Trail Magazine

“A joyful celebration of what feels like a precious resource that is . . . in too short supply.” —On Air, NPR

“The book both contemplates the various forms of silence around and within us, and offers solutions for finding such silence amidst endless interruptions and opportunities for distraction….With a sense of awe, Kagge wanders rather than narrates, moving intuitively between philosophy, science, and personal experience….It’s always good to be reminded of ancient truths. And with Silence, Kagge provides a much-needed reminder.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

“An eloquent and persuasive argument for the significance of silence, in all of its forms, from an author who has explored the limits of the human experience.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Searing and soaring….For Kagge, silence is more than the absence of sound: it is the incubator for thought, the conscious eradication of external distraction, and the ability to live in one’s own mind as fully as one lives in the physical world. Infused with powerfully evocative art and photographs that enhance his salient concepts, Kagge’s treatise on this endangered commodity provides an intriguing meditation for mindful readers.” —Booklist

“The book expands the concepts of silence and noise beyond their aural definitions and engages with modern culture’s information overload, need for constant connection, and cult of busyness….Great pleasure lies in Kagge’s creative investigations. The reader leaves more mindful of the swirl of distraction present in everyday life.”  —Publishers Weekly

Listeners hear sirens, traffic, and phones at the start of Erling Kagge's meditation on silence. The noises demonstrate Kagge's need for silence, and various sounds pop up here and there throughout to illustrate or punctuate his points. Narrator Atli Gunnarsson's voice conveys Kagge's feelings well, whether it's the joy of listening to nature at the South Pole or the irritation of noisy everyday life as a publisher in Oslo, Norway. Kagge touches on every aspect of his theme, even the way birds' songs adapt to compete with human noise. The essays are brief, but the adept voice work and ambient sound effects work together well to help Kagge make the case for finding inner silence. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

2017-09-25
A slender investigation into the idea of silence and its importance to those who dwell in the ceaseless noise of the modern world.Norwegian explorer and publisher Kagge (A Poor Collector's Guide to Buying Great Art, 2015, etc.), the first person to reach all of the Earth's "three poles"—the North Pole, the South Pole, and the summit of Mount Everest—should be an expert on silence; he once spent more than 50 days trekking alone, without radio contact, to the South Pole in Antarctica, "the quietest place I've ever been." A dinner conversation with his family and a lecture on the topic provided the author with the impulse to write this book, which consists of 33 attempts to answer a series of questions: "What is silence? Where is it? Why is it more important now than ever?" Drawing from his personal experiences, as well as conversations with artists, poets, athletes, philosophers, and musicians, Kagge challenges readers to grapple with the concept, inside of which, he contends, "the world's secrets are hidden." Interspersed with the short chapters are images, including photographs taken by the author during his expeditions and works by artists including Ed Ruscha and Catherine Opie. Despite its philosophical nature, the book is aimed at a general readership, and, befitting the subject matter, the narrative has a meditative quality. Kagge explores his subject from many different angles—not simply as the absence of sound but as a matter of human perception, a force both external and internal. Though they contain no startling revelations, his reflections provide a thoughtful approach to a topic of import to many who live in "the age of noise."An eloquent and persuasive argument for the significance of silence, in all of its forms, from an author who has explored the limits of the human experience.