Product Description

After a noisy upbringing as one of six children, and adulthood as a vocal feminist and mother, Sara Maitland began to crave silence. Over the past five years, she has spent periods of silence in the Sinai desert, the Australian bush, and the Isle of Skye. She interweaves these experiences with the history of silence through fairy-tale and myth, Western and Eastern religious traditions, the Enlightenment and psychoanalysis, up to the ambivalence towards silence in contemporary society. Maitland has built a hermitage on an isolated Scottish moor, and the book culminates powerfully with her experiences of silence in this new home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2533 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
'A Book of Silence grapples with ideas at the very heart of what it is to be human, and Sara Maitland is a joyous champion of the countercultural notion that silence is more than simply an absence of noise' -The Times 'Maitland's experience has been rich and thorough, and deeply enviable. Her book is probably unique in its subject, and timely, because good, healing silence is becoming hard to find, and we may not know we need it' - Guardian 'It is both an analytical, theoretical fascination and a personal one, her reading and her experience locked together, each testing and illuminating the other' - Economist 'Her dedication to the cause is both inspiring and shocking - There are many beautiful meditative passages in her meditation on silence - [A] wonderful salutary book' - Sunday Telegraph (Seven)

Review
'Unique in its subject, and timely, because good, healing silence is becoming hard to find'

'A brave, honest, fascinating book'

Review
'Offering at once personal anecdotes, cultural diagnoses and soothing antidotes, these memoirs make for a timely and nourishing read'

Customer Reviews

A book about silences
This is a riveting and quirky book, beautifully written, entertaining and profound. Impossible to classify, it is part travelogue, part witty and devastatingly open autobiography, part review of the experiences of silence of people as diverse as early Christian desert hermits, 20th century yachtspeople and Buddhists.
Mid-life, Maitland chose to place silence at the centre of her life and she explores what this might mean for her in late 20th Century Britain. She addresses challenging issues, such as the fear of what might happen in silence, and practical issues such as earning her keep.
To my mind, she doesn't always get it quite right - her fascinating discussion of voice hearing that sometimes happens in silence does not distinguish between hearing 'inner voices' of guidance and 'outer voices' made by the wind , for example. Her description of silent Quaker worship doesn't quite grasp that this is a listening silence, in which the worshippers' active 'listening towards God' is more important than any spoken word. But these are small points in a huge work, and I would thoroughly recommend this book as a good read for practitioners of silence and others alike.
Maitland articulates beautifully much that is not spoken of in our society , including the importance for everyone of having enough silence in our lives. The book is is not an invitation to silence as such, but offers insights and many possible paths for readers to follow. I can think of several very different people for whom it would be a great present!

The Most Satisfying Non Fiction Book I've Read For Years
This book is beyond classification. It's a spiritual text, an autobiography, a survey of particular branches of science, cosmology and history, a travel yarn, a series of closely-observed, beautifully-executed descriptions of the natural world. It's also in parts wonderfully funny. To my mind, Ms Maitland has outdone the achievement of the Annie Dillard of 'Pilgrim At Tinker's Creek' - high praise from me, for that is my all-time favourite book.
Thoughout the book deals with challenging material, but I - who often get too lost to be found in many books I pick up - was amazed by my own clarity throughout. This I owe to the author's limpid style and the fact that every page is packed with important and beautiful things.
Any criticism? I wanted more. Much more. But the rest was Silence.

Michael Wherly

A Book of Silence
This was an utterly absorbing book. Thought-provoking and unique, I would recommend this to everyone. I picked it up in the bookshop by chance - I had never heard of Sara Maitland, but found her writing style entrancing. The ways in which she explored silence; in history, religion, literature and especially within her own life, were fascinating.

This book has charm. Give it a try.