A Book Of Silence
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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' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
'A brave, honest, fascinating book' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
141 of 146 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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!
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!
60 of 64 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In middle age, the feminist author, Sara Maitland, lives on her own for the first time, and surprises herself by falling in love with the vast silences of solitude. Over the subsequent decade, she sets out to explore her new love, spending time on her own in some of Britain's wild places. A Book of Silence is partly an account of her experiences of silence and partly a cultural history of silence.
In essence we have two books that are competing for our attention. Maitland's accounts of her own experiences are fine and moving, but she intersperses these with her sprawling discourse on the culture of silence. Maitland loves quiet, but gives her readers no peace for she is endlessly qualifying her own, often moving, experiences with those of others. There's nothing wrong with setting out to explore others' experiences of silence, but she's actually a not a great guide, seemingly including everything she happened upon in her research, when had she cut the book by 100 pages it would have been much better for it.
What really frustrated me about A Book of Silence is that so many passages are exceptionally well written and Maitland's skills as a writer are abundantly obvious. She writes of her admiration for the mountaineer and author, Joe Simpson, and yet in many ways her accounts of the silences of Skye and Galloway are as evocative as Simpson's works, many of which are considered modern classics. What we want is more of this, more of the author, and less of rambling, sprawling pseudo-academic discourse on silence.
Because she seems so preoccupied with others' accounts she also leaves the reader asking many questions: How did the break up of her marriage (which is skirted over) impact on her search for silence? What did her children make of her life choices? The problem with this sort of book is that you can't be selective over what you reveal to your reader: you either show them everything or nothing.
This is, in many ways, a good book, but with more stringent editing and disciplined writing it could have been great.
In essence we have two books that are competing for our attention. Maitland's accounts of her own experiences are fine and moving, but she intersperses these with her sprawling discourse on the culture of silence. Maitland loves quiet, but gives her readers no peace for she is endlessly qualifying her own, often moving, experiences with those of others. There's nothing wrong with setting out to explore others' experiences of silence, but she's actually a not a great guide, seemingly including everything she happened upon in her research, when had she cut the book by 100 pages it would have been much better for it.
What really frustrated me about A Book of Silence is that so many passages are exceptionally well written and Maitland's skills as a writer are abundantly obvious. She writes of her admiration for the mountaineer and author, Joe Simpson, and yet in many ways her accounts of the silences of Skye and Galloway are as evocative as Simpson's works, many of which are considered modern classics. What we want is more of this, more of the author, and less of rambling, sprawling pseudo-academic discourse on silence.
Because she seems so preoccupied with others' accounts she also leaves the reader asking many questions: How did the break up of her marriage (which is skirted over) impact on her search for silence? What did her children make of her life choices? The problem with this sort of book is that you can't be selective over what you reveal to your reader: you either show them everything or nothing.
This is, in many ways, a good book, but with more stringent editing and disciplined writing it could have been great.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I must confess (if there is any 'confessing' about it) that I have always been a rather silent person myself. Silent in two ways: I both enjoy being in a silent environment (going walking and camping by myself, the lonelier and more desolate the more I like it), and in groups tend to be 'a silent type' as well. But even then, I had never before given this much thought. To me, it was just another aspect of my personality and interests (just as I like bird-watching, or reading, or mountains), and I had no idea there was so much to say about silence and its effects.
But obviously there is a lot to say about silence (and, when you think of it, why shouldn't there be?). Sara Maitland has done a fine job here both in extensively researching what other people have said and written about silence, but also sets out to experience silence in all its shapes and forms herself (like Thoreau, to whom she frequently refers, settling on Walden pond). I couldn't help thinking that - if circumstances were different and, to name but one, I wouldn't be married and father to three (adorable) small children - I could very well have ended up settling on some desolate moor myself.
So perhaps it comes as no surprise that I enjoyed this book. At the very least I was always intrigued and curious, at times envious of some of the experiences she had. Inevitably, much of what she writes is personal and subjective (how could it be other?). One of the major reasons why Maitland actively sought (and seeks, I presume) silence is to pray, and if you're not a praying person yourself (such as I), it is sometimes difficult to 'understand' her when she writes about this, or to appreciate the importance she obviously attaches to it. Likewise, on occasion I doubted the validity of some of the statements she makes (for instance when she argues that 'the antisocial, even violent, behaviour in younger people in the West at present must be related to a lack of silence and a lack of training in how to use silence.').
Be that as it may, this is nevertheless still a very thought-provoking book and one that, judging by the other reviewers' comments, comes at the right time and answers a very real need with many people.
But obviously there is a lot to say about silence (and, when you think of it, why shouldn't there be?). Sara Maitland has done a fine job here both in extensively researching what other people have said and written about silence, but also sets out to experience silence in all its shapes and forms herself (like Thoreau, to whom she frequently refers, settling on Walden pond). I couldn't help thinking that - if circumstances were different and, to name but one, I wouldn't be married and father to three (adorable) small children - I could very well have ended up settling on some desolate moor myself.
So perhaps it comes as no surprise that I enjoyed this book. At the very least I was always intrigued and curious, at times envious of some of the experiences she had. Inevitably, much of what she writes is personal and subjective (how could it be other?). One of the major reasons why Maitland actively sought (and seeks, I presume) silence is to pray, and if you're not a praying person yourself (such as I), it is sometimes difficult to 'understand' her when she writes about this, or to appreciate the importance she obviously attaches to it. Likewise, on occasion I doubted the validity of some of the statements she makes (for instance when she argues that 'the antisocial, even violent, behaviour in younger people in the West at present must be related to a lack of silence and a lack of training in how to use silence.').
Be that as it may, this is nevertheless still a very thought-provoking book and one that, judging by the other reviewers' comments, comes at the right time and answers a very real need with many people.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Search for silence
This search for silence never loses sight of those who seek to make their needs and voices heard. Sara Maitland keeps her feet on the ground during her exploration of different... Read more
Published 16 days ago by RoGay
Just fantastic
I adore this book.
I learnt so much from it - about silence, life and myself. I particularly enjoyed Sara's thoughts about the different types of silence and how... Read more
I learnt so much from it - about silence, life and myself. I particularly enjoyed Sara's thoughts about the different types of silence and how... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Angel House
Not about silence
When a book claims to be about silence and fairly immediately admits that there is no such thing, you know you have a problem. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Three Chord Trick
I'll read this again
I enjoyed this book, the author expressed so many of my own views and feelings in a straightforward, sensible manner and the references to other works will lead to further reading. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Maggy
A book of silence
A beautifully written book on that rare topic...silence.
Silence addicts ( I'm one ) will love it. Read more
Silence addicts ( I'm one ) will love it. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Diana Cambridge
Interesting read to a point
Initially I found this book really interesting but towards the end it seemed to lose direction and ended up with a lot of quotes from other sources. Read more
Published 17 months ago by K Townsend
One woman's journey into Great Silence
Sara Maitland notes that "In the Middle Ages Christian scholastics argued that the devil's basic strategy was to bring human beings to a point where they are never alone with their... Read more
Published 17 months ago by E. L. Wisty
life changing
This book transformed my way of understanding my inner life and thus has utterly changed how I organise and order my outer life. Read more
Published on 29 May 2010 by Shushan
A Book of Silence
A fascinating book, so well written in its description of the places visited & lived in especially in my case GALLOWAY.
Published on 15 Dec 2009 by Mr. Norman L. Holness
Unusually brilliant
"A Book of Silence" is exceptional in its honest description of Sara Maitland's spiritual journey up to this point. Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2009 by Rev. JGS
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