Silence cover art

Silence

In the Age of Noise

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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.

 Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Consciousness & Thought Movements Philosophy Polar Regions Spirituality Meditation Adventure

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)
Erling Kagge is a philosophical adventurer - or perhaps an adventurous philosopher
A breathtakingly beautiful, quietly life-changing book by the Norwegian explorer Erling Kagge, that shows us how to find perfect silence in our daily lives - however busy we are
All stars
Most relevant
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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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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The gentle narration combined with the almost hypnotising content, made this a valued companion during lock down for me.

Captivating

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Having read Eckhart Tolle, I found Erling Kagge’s Silence audiobook enlightening yet refreshingly straightforward. This brief listen (about 2 hours) explores inner stillness amid modern noise, drawing from Kagge’s solo explorations. The calm narration lets the ideas sink in deeply—perfect for quiet moments.

Refreshing

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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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