Review by Booklist Review
In an increasingly cacophonous world, finding pockets of silence is nearly impossible. Background music is ubiquitous; pings and rings from phones interrupt family dinners; and trains, planes, and automobiles provide constant surround sound. For world-renowned adventurer Kagge, silence is not only essential for his solitary pursuits of the world's most inaccessible places but it is the impetus for those treks. Relying on his own experiences and appreciating the wisdom of great philosophers, Kagge analyzes three basic questions: What is silence? Where can it be experienced? Why is it important? Through 33 searing and soaring essays, Kagge endeavors to find the answers. 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.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
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 Everestshould 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 anglesnot 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. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.