Learning from Silence
Finding clarity and calm in a world of mounting uncertainty
Published on 19. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-80495-273-3 (ISBN)
Description
From the bestselling author of The Art of Stillness, a revelatory exploration of the abiding clarity and calm to be found in quiet retreat
Over the past three decades, Pico Iyer has made more than a hundred journeys to a small hermitage high above the sea in Big Sur, California. He's not a Christian, nor a member of any religious group, and yet his life has been transformed by these periods of time spent in silence.
In Learning from Silence, Iyer travels deep into inner stillness and joy in his many seasons at the monastery, even as his life is going through constant change: houses burn, a parent dies, a daughter is diagnosed with cancer. He shares the revelations he experiences, alongside wisdom from other non-monastics who have learned from adversity and inwardness. Most profoundly, he shows how solitude can be a training in community and companionship.
In so doing, he offers a unique outsider's view of monastic life - and of a group of selfless souls who have dedicated their days to ensuring there's a space for quiet and recollection that's open to us all.
Radiant, intimate and gripping, Learning from Silence offers ageless counsel about the power of silence and what it can teach us about how to live, how to love and, ultimately, how to die.
Over the past three decades, Pico Iyer has made more than a hundred journeys to a small hermitage high above the sea in Big Sur, California. He's not a Christian, nor a member of any religious group, and yet his life has been transformed by these periods of time spent in silence.
In Learning from Silence, Iyer travels deep into inner stillness and joy in his many seasons at the monastery, even as his life is going through constant change: houses burn, a parent dies, a daughter is diagnosed with cancer. He shares the revelations he experiences, alongside wisdom from other non-monastics who have learned from adversity and inwardness. Most profoundly, he shows how solitude can be a training in community and companionship.
In so doing, he offers a unique outsider's view of monastic life - and of a group of selfless souls who have dedicated their days to ensuring there's a space for quiet and recollection that's open to us all.
Radiant, intimate and gripping, Learning from Silence offers ageless counsel about the power of silence and what it can teach us about how to live, how to love and, ultimately, how to die.
Reviews / Votes
Iyer's beautiful book is for anyone who feels drawn to the pull of monasticism, without adhering to any religion. Iyer masterfully and lyrically shows us how we may need to find a new home - one far more solemn, communal and silent than our present one - in order to return properly to ourselves -- Alain de Botton, author of THE ARCHITECTURE OF HAPPINESS Luminous and exquisitely simple, it is astonishing how Iyer transports you into the joy of the mystery. And then, lit with love, he shows you how to find it everywhere -- Jack Kornfield Pico Iyer has been studying sincere practitioners from many religious traditions for a long time and has gathered some of what he's learned in this book. I trust that reading this book may help many to lead lives of greater compassion and deeper peace of mind -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama Learning From Silence is an exquisite book, a jewel, a treasure, and appearing at a time when silence can teach us to see more deeply, to love more surely -- Joan Halifax A beautifully written, meditative book ... As I turned to this, I felt my blood pressure reducing, and I began to read in a different, slower, and more concentrated way. * Financial Times * In this delicately woven memoir, Iyer combines portraits of the people he has encountered during his stays with crystalline descriptions of the natural setting and philosophical ruminations on the purposes of retreat. * The New Yorker * Essential reading for anyone interested in the monastic tradition and those who follow it. * Kirkus, Starred Review * Brilliantly illuminates philosophical insights about the nature of the self, the world, and how silence serves as a conduit between the two, often in elegant, evocative prose ... Stunning. * Publishers Weekly *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Cornerstone
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
176 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80495-273-3 (9781804952733)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2025
Penguin (Cornerstone)
€9.99
Available for download
Person
Pico Iyer is the acclaimed and bestselling author of more than a dozen books translated into twenty-three languages, most recently The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise. His journalism regularly appear in Time, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, the Financial Times, and more than 250 other periodicals worldwide. His TED talks have been viewed over eleven million times. He divides his time between Western Japan and Central California.