Searching for Silence in a Culture of Noise

For his new book In Pursuit of Silence, author George Prochnik went on a personal quest to examine how we came to be so loud as a society, and what gets lost when we can no longer find quiet. Along the way he met with monks, a soldier in Afghanistan, a sound designer, and a group of commuters who successfully revolted against piped-in music at Grand Central Terminal. Prochnik joins us for this month's installment of our noise series "Sound Off."

Tell us: What do you do to cope with noise? Do you enjoy or seek out some forms of environmental noise? Leave a comment.

Blog: John Schaefer on the sound of silence [WNYC Culture]