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Erling Kagge

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Silence: In the Age of Noise Paperback – Illustrated, December 4, 2018

by Erling Kagge (Author), Becky L. Crook (Translator)

4.4 1,080 ratings

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"A joyful celebration" (NPR) that shows us why silence is essential to our sanity and happiness—and how it can open doors to wonder and gratitude—from a renowned explorer and acclaimed author.

In this astonishing and transformative meditation, Erling Kagge, famed Norwegian explorer and the first person to reach the South Pole alone, explores the silence around us, the silence within us, and the silence we must create. By recounting his own experiences and discussing the observations of poets, artists, and explorers, Kagge shows us what silence is, where it can be found, and why it is now more important than ever.

Print length

160 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Vintage
Publication date

December 4, 2018
Dimensions

5.46 x 0.62 x 7.09 inches
ISBN-10

0525563644
ISBN-13

978-0525563648
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“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

About the Author

ERLING KAGGE is an explorer, art collector, publisher, author, and the first person to have completed the Three Poles Challenge on foot—the North Pole, the South Pole, and the summit of Mount Everest. He has written six previous books on exploration, philosophy, and art collecting, and runs Kagge Forlag, a publishing company based in Oslo, where he lives.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Whenever I am unable to walk, climb or sail away from the world, I have learned to shut it out.

Learning this took time. Only when I understood that I had a primal need for silence was I able to begin my search for it—and there, deep beneath a cacophony of traffic noise and thoughts, music and machinery, iPhones and snow ploughs, it lay in wait for me. Silence.

Not long ago, I tried convincing my three daughters that the world’s secrets are hidden inside silence. We were sitting around the kitchen table eating Sunday dinner. Nowadays it is a rare occurrence for us to eat a meal together; so much is going on all the other days of the week. Sunday dinners have become the one time when we all remain seated and talk, face-to-face.

The girls looked at me sceptically. Surely silence is . . . nothing? Even before I was able to explain the way in which silence can be a friend, and a luxury more valuable than any of the Louis Vuitton bags they so covet, their minds had been made up: silence is fine to have on hand when you’re feeling sad. Beyond that, it’s useless.

Sitting there at the dinner table, I suddenly remembered their curiosity as children. How they would wonder about what might be hiding behind a door. Their amazement as they stared at a light switch and asked me to “open the light.”

Questions and answers, questions and answers. Wonder is the very engine of life. But my children are thirteen, sixteen and nineteen years old and wonder less and less; if they still wonder at anything, they quickly pull out their smartphones to find the answer. They are still curious, but their faces are not as childish, more adult, and their heads are now filled with more ambitions than questions. None of them had any interest in discussing the subject of silence, so, in order to invoke it, I told them about two friends of mine who had decided to climb Mount Everest.

Early one morning they left base camp to climb the southwest wall of the mountain. It was going well. Both reached the summit, but then came the storm. They soon realized they would not make it down alive. The first got hold of his pregnant wife via satellite phone. Together they decided on the name of the child that she was carrying. Then he quietly passed away just below the summit. My other friend was not able to contact anyone before he died. No one knows exactly what happened on the mountain in those hours. Thanks to the dry, cool climate 8,000 metres above sea level, they have both been freeze-dried. They lie there in silence, looking no different, more or less, from the way they were last time I saw them, twenty-two years ago.

For once there was silence around the table. One of our mobile phones pinged with an incoming message, but none of us thought to check our phones just then. Instead, we filled the silence with ourselves.

Not long afterwards, I was invited to give a lecture at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland. I was to choose the subject myself. I tended to talk about extreme journeys to the ends of the earth, but this time my thoughts turned homewards, to that Sunday supper with my family. So I settled on the topic of silence. I prepared myself well but was, as I often am, nervous beforehand. What if scattered thoughts about silence belonged only in the realm of Sunday dinners, and not in student forums? It was not that I expected to be booed for the eighteen minutes of my lecture, but I wanted the students to be interested in the subject I held so close to my heart.

I began the lecture with a minute of silence. You could have heard a pin drop. It was stock-still. For the next seventeen minutes I spoke about the silence around us, but I also talked about something that is even more important to me, the silence within us. The students remained quiet. Listening. It seemed as though they had been missing silence.

That same evening, I went out to a pub with a few of them. Inside the draughty entrance, each of us with a pint of beer, it was all more or less exactly the same as my student days at Cambridge. Kind, curious people, a humming atmosphere, interesting conversations. What is silence? Where is it? Why is it more important now than ever? were three questions they wanted answered.

That evening meant a lot to me, and not only for the good company. Thanks to the students I realized how little I understood. Back home I couldn’t stop thinking about those three questions. They became an obsession.

What is silence? Where is it? Why is it more important now than ever?

Every evening I’d sit, puzzling over them. I began writing, thinking and reading, more for myself than anyone else. By the end of my search I’d come up with thirty-three attempts at answering them.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; Illustrated edition (December 4, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525563644
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0525563648
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.46 x 0.62 x 7.09 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #134,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #14 in Antarctica Travel Guides
- #47 in Walking (Books)
- #945 in Meditation (Books)

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4.4 1,080 ratings

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PapaBear615

Shhh! Be quiet and purchase this book!

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2018

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We live in a busy world. It's loud, it's chaotic, and it's a non-stop race in one of a million different ways. Everything is connected--and while that proves convenient at times, other times that connectivity thanks to technology creates a huge gap in our lives. I'm a hiker--and I adore the opportunities to go on remote hikes and not encounter other people... as a people person that may seem odd, but it was my way to "get away" and really clear my head. Ironically, I used to hike with any of a number of playlists going, letting the music motivate me. I haven't listened to music on a hike in years.

Around the time I gave up on music during hikes and walks, I was turned onto minimalism. While minimalism and silence may not go hand-in-hand, they are both ideas and concepts that have come on with a maturity and better understanding of what is important in the world. I find myself now teaching my daughters about the importance of little things, and how big they can seem and how much we can learn. Looking at two blades of grass on the surface sounds boring, but when you get down to the details it is fascinating. Silence is the same.

This book was recommended by my father who is a wise 68. He is one of the wisest people I know--so I bought the book and read it last week. It's a potentially quick read, but that's dangerous. A book like this needs to be taken slowly and digested. Philosophical at it's core, you need to allow yourself the time to really soak up what Kagge is saying... if you can do that, you'll be better for it. You'll appreciate things you never considered before, and life will be richer.

44 people found this helpful

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Wondering Wanderer:

Of the many diverse books I’ve read in my 77 ...

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2018

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Of the many diverse books I’ve read in my 77 years “Silence...” is the only one I’ve felt compelled to read more than once. The first time, I found it a quick read and it’s 33 short stories exceptionally engaging. I started read two the next day and found myself slowing down to think about each story, to marvel how each one relates to me and my life. I immediately started read three — catch this — at 2:30 in the morning, slowing down automatically as I contemplate what certain elements of each story are telling me where to and how to seek and practice silence in my daily living. And just when I thought I thought I was finished with this little book, l found myself in read number four, as I use “Silence” to help me meditate. Thank you, Erving Kagge. BTW, When one my four children gave me your book as a surprise, she told “Dad, when I read the blurb about it, I knew you’d love it.” I have given seven copies (ordered throughAmazon, ahem) for my children, grandchildren and a dear friend who is the editor of a major US university’s alumni magazine. He emailed me: “Finished chapter one. Can’t put it down. “

40 people found this helpful

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Gary Moreau, Author

Finding silence in a loud world - the search within

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2017

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Erling Kagge may be the ultimate challenge-seeker. According to the book’s jacket, Kagge is the first man to have completed the Three Poles Challenge on foot—the North Pole, the South Pole, and the summit of Mount Everest. Wow! I would submit that his greatest challenge however, was the decision to write a book about silence.

He obviously experienced a lot of silence when he trekked across Antarctica alone for 50 days. But this isn’t a book about the exploration of remote places. This is a book about the silence within, the kind of silence that is found on a crowded subway or a barren mountaintop. In fact, according to Kagge, you have to find it on the crowded subway. That is life. And that is when you need it most.

I completely agree. I lived in China for nine years. Having grown up in a small town in rural America and lived most of my adult life in a house that sat a few thousand meters from its nearest neighbor, I moved to Beijing, a city of 22 million, where personal space is, by necessity, simply non-existent. If you can’t get used to the idea of your face being mere inches away from the face of the stranger standing next to you on a crowded subway, you won’t survive.

Looking back, however, learning to live without personal space was more a process of personal liberation than an accommodation to my new reality. Never in my sixty-three years have I learned more about myself or become more comfortable in my own skin.

The book is a chronicle of philosophy on the topic of silence. But rather than just summarizing that discussion, Kagge applies it to everything from exploring the underground world of New York City to the appreciation of art and music.

Which is pretty bold, when you think about it. He could sell a lot of books merely sharing some of his unusual and exotic tales of adventure. But he doesn’t do that here. He is wagering this book on his ability to share himself at the most intimate level.

And I think he is successful. This is a very good book by a very intriguing individual. Silence, as Kagge points out, is all about listening-to self, the people you love, and the world around you. That’s where you find joy and purpose.

64 people found this helpful

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cheapbuzzard

Just get it (from here or the library)

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2023

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A sidelight for me is getting short quotes to pair with pictures of trails to encourage people to visit our local preserves. This book has many but the writing is tight enough most cannot be dissected out. A inspiring and short read

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Stan Dandyliver

Profound, clear and wise

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2023

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Reading this book gave me a sense of being fed and watered: it met a need in me to know that there are others who yearn for the silence of wild spaces in the midst of the daily noise of life.
There are messages and hints built in but it’s not a how-to book, rather a meditation on stillness.
I was very drawn to it and will go back to it time and again.
I wish I could meet the man and say nothing to him, just spend time in his company. And others like him and me, looking for the same.

7 people found this helpful

tevake

Profound

Reviewed in Canada on February 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

I learned a lot from reading this little gem. Next to Thoreau’s Walden this is my favourite book. Full of insights, unpretentious and easy to read. Very relevant in today’s world. Should be of special interest for all those who waste most of their lives, like monkeys watching a peanut dispensing machine, addicted and glued to a computer screen or smart phone.

Pedro Alexandre Alcobia Graça

Esperava um pouco mais

Reviewed in Spain on February 25, 2023

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É bom mas esperava mais do silêncio

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Dr. Somesh Gupta

Engaging and enlightening

Reviewed in India on January 7, 2021

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The book is about inner silence. Nicely written, engaging.

One person found this helpful

Actraizer

Superbe

Reviewed in France on July 28, 2018

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J'ai trouvé ce livre dans une bibliothèque en vacances, et j'ai décidé de l'acheter pour pouvoir le terminer.

Chaque chapitre provoque une profonde réflexion.

Une pause bienvenue dans le tumulte.

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