Silence cover art

Silence

In the Age of Noise

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Silence

By: Erling Kagge
Narrated by: Atli Gunnarsson
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About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Silence by Erling Kagge, read by Atli Gunnarsson.

Behind a cacophony of traffic noise, iPhone alerts and our ever-spinning thoughts, an elusive notion - silence - lies in wait. But what really is silence? Where can it be found? And why is it more important now than ever?

Erling Kagge, the Norwegian adventurer and polymath, once spent fifty days walking solo in Antarctica with a broken radio. In this meditative, charming and surprisingly powerful book, he explores the power of silence and the importance of shutting out the world. Whether you're in deep wilderness, taking a shower or on the dance floor, you can experience perfect stillness if you know where to look. And from it grows self-knowledge, gratitude, wonder and much more.

Take a deep breath, and prepare to submerge yourself in Silence. Your own South Pole is out there, somewhere.

©2017 Erling Kagge (P)2017 Penguin Audio Adventure Travel Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Consciousness & Thought Philosophy Polar Regions Spirituality Meditation Adventure

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Critic reviews

As an explorer Erling Kagge is world class; as a writer he is equally gifted. This breathtaking, inspiring little book teaches us how to find precious moments of silence - whether we are crossing the Antarctic, climbing Everest, or on the train at rush hour (Sir Ranulph Fiennes)
Silence braces a space within which we can hear ourselves think. Quietly, wisely, it makes a case for dumbing the din of modern life, and learning to listen again. Drawing on the experiences of Kagge's extraordinary life in wild places, this is a book of great concentration (Robert Macfarlane)
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Whilst this doesn’t really offer how to bring silence into your life it does offer a lot of insight into why silence is so important.

A really interesting book about silence

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The gentle narration combined with the almost hypnotising content, made this a valued companion during lock down for me.

Captivating

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I was greatly enthralled by this Audible book. had to listen right through. I related to some of the philosophy which is very deep. I thoroughly enjoyed listening.

silence it has more meaning behind the word

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short sharp chapters, very thought provoking. even if you only take some of the points away, you will feel better with your own silence

very insightful

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. . . what a perfect book to listen to on New Year's Eve. . .

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Not personal to the VO, but i struggled with the voice - quite robotic. However a really interesting read :)

Weirdest voiceover but an interesting book

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It can seem like the ware of a credit on such a short audiobook but it is so worth it. The narration suited the topic and the few sound effects were apt. This is a book to be revisited many times.

Listening to this felt like meditation...

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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.

Shhh and listen

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The irony of beginning this winsome little audiobook on a smartphone, straining to hear the narrator on an oppressively noisy tube train isn’t lost on me…but fortunately I decided to postpone my listening for another, quieter, time. I’m glad I persevered, as Erling Kagge has produced a thoughtful meditation on the important – and often ignored – role of silence in our hectic, noisy modern lives. Since finishing this collection of charming anecdotes from the author’s life, I’ve worked to pay attention to the rare moments of quiet and embrace them. My phone has never spent less time by my side.

A short but charming antidote to busy modern life

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Some explorations were thought provoking. I was expecting, or would like to have heard more about Erling Kagge's first hand experiences of deep silence when he was alone. For instance diary entries about what he was going through psychologically throughout the night in Antarctica on an empty stomach and having 100s of miles more to walk. This book was more about different philosophical discussions of silence from old time philosophers. The advantage Erling has over these philosophers, is that he lived in silence most of the time (apart from the noise of the wind and occasional wildlife). It was disappointing from this perspective.

The theme

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