Silence: In the Age of Noise

Product Information

What did I think?: I found that this book, despite it being short and easy to read, was best enjoyed slowly so that I could savor every point and linger on the moments that truly resonated. That being said, I couldn't put it down and finished it within a single day.

For me, silence is not merely about the complete absence of sound; it is also about the ability to find wonder in the everyday. Wonder is one of the purest forms of joy that I can imagine. I enjoy the feeling. I often wonder. I do it almost everywhere: when travelling, alone or with my three daughters, when meeting people, or whenever I feel my heart beat, hear something for the first time or see the sunrise. Where fear is ever present you will never tire of pleasure in the relationship. It sounds brutal, but Stendhal is right. Life is brutal. I am living dangerously when I take a relationship for granted. Most people think climbing Everest is very risky, but things usually work out. However, taking reciprocal love for granted – I would never dare do that.” 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.” Of course, Heidegger could not have predicted the possibilities offered by current technology. He was thinking about cars of 50 horsepower, film projectors and punch-card machines, which were all the rage. But he had an inkling of what might come.) I found this book deeply unsatisfying. Whatever it's about, it's not really about silence. Erling Kagge is a well known explorer and traveller. My expectations, based on the book's summary, was that he would be writing about his experiences of silence journeying to the North or South Poles, for example, and that he might reach some profound conclusions. But no!Erling สวมหมวกหลายใบ หนึ่งในนั้นที่ทำให้เขาเป็นที่รู้จักคือหมวกนักเดินทาง เขาเป็นคนแรกของโลกที่เดินกว่าแปดร้อยไมล์ไปยังขั้วโลกใต้ตามลำพัง ขั้วโลกใต้ไม่มีสิ่งมีชีวิตอื่นคอยส่งเสียง ไม่มีต้นไม้ มีแต่น้ำแข็ง และภาพฟ้ากว้างๆ กับแสงอาทิตย์ที่ยาวนาน มันเป็นดินแดนที่ท่วมท้นไปด้วยความเงียบ เพียงจินตนาการฉันก็รู้สึกอึดอัดได้แล้ว Livet er langt, hvis du ved, hvordan du skal bruge det Men livet er meget kort og hektisk for dem, som glemmer fortiden, forsømmer nutiden og frygter fremtiden. Først for sent indser staklerne, at de hele tiden var hektisk optaget af at gøre ingenting.” I don't knit, but when I watch someone who does, I think that they must have found some of the same inner peace that I discovered during my expeditions, even if their surroundings are not as quiet.”

What is silence? Why is it more important than ever?’ … Erling Kagge. Photograph: Simon Skreddernes 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. That same evening, I went 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. Kind, curious people, a humming atmosphere, interesting conversations. In the 2007 film "Noise", Tim Robbins plays David Owen, a Manhattan man so fed up with the noise of the city that he takes it upon himself to "rectify" the situation. He soon gains a popular following and a moniker, "The Rectifier", to go with it. At the risk of giving too much away, Owen eventually comes to the realization that vandalizing every car in the city is a slow way to go about achieving any lasting peace and quiet and instead decides to make some, ahem, noise, by campaigning for an anti-noise ballot initiative. knygą pavadinčiau įžvalgų apie tylą koncentratu. Man dažniausiai kur kas labiau patinka skaityti labiau praskiestą turinį ir iš jo pačiai išsirankioti tai, kas yra aktualu ir svarbu man. Šįkart tokios galimybės kaip ir nebuvo, nes viskas daugiau mažiau jau išrankiota ir patiekta. Knyga parašyta populiariu stiliumi, todėl lengvai skaitoma ir suprantama visiems. Ją perskaičius kaip ir nelieka abejonių, kad tyla yra svarbi ir tikrai verta bent jau pabandyti ją prisijaukinti. Tik man norėjosi galbūt šiek tiek kitokios knygos struktūros ir visko daugiau ir giliau!

Connect with us Online

Do note that I am referring here, as Kagge and likely Pascal are, to "western" humanity, as I am aware that many eastern cultures and traditions allow for a much larger place for silence than is typically seen in the western world.) While I already know of the importance of getting away from devices, shutting off and getting away from it all, not all of us have that luxury. Kagge seems to be able to escape whenever he pleases. 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, to invoke it, I told them about two friends of mine who had decided to climb Mount Everest.