Silence: A Guide to Harnessing Your Most Powerful Inner Resource Through Mindfulness Techniques, Zen Philosophy, and the Art of Embracing Quiet

This being my second book by Thich Nhat Hanh; I found it very illuminating and a path to inner and outer peace. Now, for certain I will keep an eye out for any more of his books to add to my library.

I picked this book because silence was what I was looking for and I found it in this book. It is a book on the subject of mindfulness. To skip to the point, if you have a learning style that requires structure, you can find a better book. If you have a learning style where you pick up things in bursts of activity whenever you can devote time to the subject, you will like this book. I discovered mindfulness after watching a video on YouTube with Jon Kabat Zin hosting a session he held at Google. I picked up his book Full Catastrophe Living. It read to me like enthusiastic 8 week boot camp that you have to follow or you feel like your doing it wrong in spite of the authors best efforts to remind you that you cannot truly do it wrong. I don't see this necessary as wrong approach. I've seen there are 8 week classes out there and my suspicion this would work better as a class rather than self taught. This would be the structured approach I was referring too and as a result I recommend this book for those sorts of learners. Ultimately I wasn't really interested in meditation. I was looking for a way to quiet my world. They are many paths to achieve the quiet I was looking for, that I'm certain. So far none had seemed to work. Never has a book had a title so appropriately for what I was looking for. So naturally I snatched it up. I found Hanh's methods to be simpler to apply than Zinn's. They didn't feel like homework assignments. There was no suggested pacing to imply that after so many weeks you have everything you need. Rather than encouraging one to set aside 30 minutes a day, as you progress through the book you eventually learn enough to practice mindfulness all day so should you chose. Hanh trying to help you shut off the Non Stop Radio in your head and 30 minutes a day doesn't help. You need a method that you can use whenever you need to shut that radio off. This felt more natural and was more useful. It was more helpful as I could practice this not only when ever I wanted, but whenever I needed.

Another wonderful work by Thich Nhat Hanh. In a world filled with din and distraction how sweet is the silence that brings us back to the ‘island of self’—a place of stillness and quiet space. I highly recommend this offering to all those who are pushed back and forth by the endless noise of this world.

Thich Nhat Hanh is great at relating very deep concepts in ways that are easy to understand and practice. But, unlike his other books I have read, "Silence" reads more like a series of sound bites. As a result, I think it would be difficult for someone who is new to Zen or Thich Nhat Hanh get a lot out of this book. If you are already familiar with him, this is a great review with updated examples. But, if you are new to his teachings, I think there are better choices. I recommend his book "You Are Here" as a great starting point.

Very helpful in living a calm life with confidence and in one’s awareness. Truly lots of wisdom in this book.

I enjoyed every part of this book and will try to practice more mindfulness and silence. I would recommend it to anyone interested in mindfulness, silence and the lives of monks and how they follow the teachings of the Buddha.

such is not without noise of materialistic-identity in corporeal-domain...here is means for establishing...orderly...noise of academic perspective...read without prejudice... cognize without self

This was a refreshing read to remind me that being comfortable in silence is also important, maybe more important than checking boxes in our goal oriented society. It also dawned on me anew that in silence we can actually hear ourselves and learn who we truly are without the verbiage given by others and in that we can start to truly embrace happiness. Because if you don't truly know yourself, how can you know what will make you happy.

Excellently written and very easy to read. Guiding you to enjoy being alive and healing both mentally and physically. Must read!

This little book is the best one about mindfulness I have encountered so far. And I have read one or two about this topic. Jon Kabat-Zinn's "Wherever You Go, There You Are" is the second one, I really like.

Must read book for the people who always drainout by their own thoughts. If you ask me for a most powerful learning from this book I must say 'how to control or stop NST (non stop thinking)

Creo que puedo ponerlo en práctica y sé que el hábito de meditar en silencio cambia la vida. Gracias por esta enseñanza de paz, tan revolucionaria.

Simply stunning book. Inspirational to find quiet in your life. Ideal read for someone who is in need of some timeout and who may struggle with anxiety, being able to sit still or just know that it's OK to not always be on the go. It's beautifully written and everyone is perfect.