Table of Contents
Part 1 A Shared Yearning
Chapter 1 An Invitation 3
Chapter 2 The Altar of Noise 13
Chapter 3 Silence Is Presence 32
Chapter 4 The Moral Dimensions of Silence 49
Part II The Science of Silence
Chapter 5 Florence Nightingale Would Be Pissed 71
Chapter 6 A Mute Button for the Mind 89
Part III The Spirit of Silence
Chapter 7 Why Silence Is Scary 113
Chapter 8 Lotuses and Lilies 130
Part IV Quiet Inside
Chapter 9 A Field Guide to Finding Silence 147
Chapter 10 The Healthy Successor to the Smoke Break 162
Chapter 11 Rapturous Silence 193
Part V Quiet Together
Chapter 12 Working Quiet 223
Chapter 13 Living Quiet 250
Part VI A Society that Honors Silence
Chapter 14 Ma Goes to Washington 275
Chapter 15 A Culture of Golden Silence 301
Thirty-Three Ways to Find Silence 315
Our Gratitude 329
Notes 337
Index 353