I usually have a book of short stories or essays that I read at bedtime. These are the only books I read in bed. The title was perfect, called to me, as I too value my silent time, not only value it but need it to keep my mental equilibrium steady. I don't even own a cell phone. I found this book informative, soothing but alarming as well. The statistics show that the amount of time we are able to concentrate is decreasing, rather drastically in the last ten years. There was an experiment done at a leading institution that showed how many actually find silence so alarming that they would ra... ...more
'Silence' by Erling Kagge, translated by Betty L. Crook
3 stars/ 6 out of 10
The whole subject of solitude and silence is of great interest to me, and I have already read several books on this topic. I was interested in reading this new book by Erling Kagge, the Norwegian explorer and adventurer.
The main body of this book consists of thirty-three sections, which look at various aspects of the 3 questions that Kagge raises: 'What is silence? Where is it? Why is it more important now than ever?'
The examples in his answers are taken from many sources, ranging from businessmen to philosophers.
Erling Kagge is quite an impressive man. He was the first person in the world to walk alone to the South Pole. He was also the first to surmount the "three poles" – North, South and the summit of Mount Everest. He’s the founder of a publishing house and a well-respected author. I was thrilled to read what he had to say about the value of silence in our noisy world.
Kagge believes that there is power in silence. Silence is not a negative thing but seems to be something that many of us avoid. We try to keep ourselves constantly distracted through the internet, TV, radio and books. The author s... ...more