{"title":"Pico Iyer","description":"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 has appeared 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 Japan and a Benedictine hermitage in California.","products":[{"product_id":"aflame-learning-from-silence-hardcover","title":"Aflame: Learning from Silence - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNATIONAL BESTSELLER \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Reading \u003ci\u003eAflame\u003c\/i\u003e may help many to lead lives of greater compassion and deeper peace of mind.\" --His Holiness the Dalai Lama \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A perfect read for the noisy and anxious world we live in right now.\" -NBC \u003ci\u003eToday Show\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Slender and splendid.\" - \u003ci\u003eThe Marginalian\u003c\/i\u003e, Best Books of 2025 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Stillness\u003c\/i\u003e, a revelatory exploration of the abiding clarity and calm to be found in quiet retreat \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePico Iyer has made more than one hundred retreats over the past three decades to a small Benedictine hermitage high above the sea in Big Sur, California. He's not a Christian--or a member of any religious group--but his life has been transformed by these periods of time spent in silence. That silence reminds him of what is essential and awakens a joy that nothing can efface. It's not just freedom from distraction and noise and rush: it's a reminder of some deeper truths he misplaced along the way. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eAflame\u003c\/i\u003e, Iyer connects with inner stillness and joy in his many seasons at the monastery, even as his life is going through constant change: a house burns down, a parent dies, a daughter is diagnosed with cancer. He shares the revelations he experiences, alongside wisdom from other nonmonastics who have learned from adversity and inwardness. And 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRadiant, intimate, and gripping, \u003ci\u003eAflame\u003c\/i\u003e 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.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51317757378783,"sku":"9780593420287","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/Ljm2mkBDb9780593420287.webp?v=1788348445"},{"product_id":"the-art-of-stillness-adventures-in-going-nowhere-hardcover","title":"The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA follow up to Pico Iyer's essay \"The Joy of Quiet,\" \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Stillness\u003c\/i\u003e considers the unexpected adventure of staying put and reveals a counterintuitive truth: The more ways we have to connect, the more we seem desperate to unplug.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhy might a lifelong traveler like Pico Iyer, who has journeyed from Easter Island to Ethiopia, Cuba to Kathmandu, think that sitting quietly in a room might be the ultimate adventure? Because in our madly accelerating world, our lives are crowded, chaotic and noisy. There's never been a greater need to slow down, tune out and give ourselves permission to be still. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Stillness\u003c\/i\u003e--a TED Books release--Iyer investigate the lives of people who have made a life seeking stillness: from Matthieu Ricard, a Frenchman with a PhD in molecular biology who left a promising scientific career to become a Tibetan monk, to revered singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, who traded the pleasures of the senses for several years of living the near-silent life of meditation as a Zen monk. Iyer also draws on his own experiences as a travel writer to explore why advances in technology are making us more likely to retreat. He reflects that this is perhaps the reason why many people--even those with no religious commitment--seem to be turning to yoga, or meditation, or seeking silent retreats. These aren't New Age fads so much as ways to rediscover the wisdom of an earlier age. Growing trends like observing an \"Internet Sabbath\"--turning off online connections from Friday night to Monday morning--highlight how increasingly desperate many of us are to unplug and bring stillness into our lives. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Art of Stillness\u003c\/i\u003e paints a picture of why so many--from Marcel Proust to Mahatma Gandhi to Emily Dickinson--have found richness in stillness. Ultimately, Iyer shows that, in this age of constant movement and connectedness, perhaps staying in one place is a more exciting prospect, and a greater necessity than ever before. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 2013, Pico Iyer gave a blockbuster TED Talk. This lyrical and inspiring book expands on a new idea, offering a way forward for all those feeling affected by the frenetic pace of our modern world.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51317850767583,"sku":"9781476784724","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/1b8xUXM5s59781476784724.webp?v=1788348664"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/pico-iyer.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}