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A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland is an amazingly engaging read exploring the nature of silence and the author's search to deepen her own experience of living more closely in and with silence.  Over an eight-year period, Sara Maitland has explored the meaning of silence ("space without noise" or "space without words"?), and how others have lived - or survived - with silence, including ocean sailors, artic explorers, hermits, writers, reclusives, meditators and others.  She spends significant periods of time seeking to live in silence - in Skye, in the desert, in Weardale, and finally in an isolated cottage in Galloway.  She compares her insights with those of many poets, mystics, teachers and writers to seek to deepen her own understanding of this search for personal silence.  She reflects on western intolerance of silence and the lengths we go to avoid it, whilst also commenting on Thoreau's economic theory that "we should not calculate our wealth by how much we have or own ... but by how much free time we have [when our essential needs have been met]".  I have found the book highly relevant to my our journey, and a great encouragement to devote more time to silence. 

One starting point is to work on the very different meanings and experiences of Solititude, Stillness and Silence.  Notice how it is possible to have one of these without the other two - or two of them without the third - and each combination is a quite different experience.