Each word we speak is born in silence and returns to silence. And without the frame of silence there can be no human communication. Because silence is so tragically lacking in our times, the rhythm of human communication has become frenetic and disjointed. Our own noise and extraneous noises drive us to distraction. Ambrose G. Wathen's sensitive and absorbing book Silence explores this most fragile and precious element of our lives. Drawing upon the centuries of experience of the Benedictine monks, Father Wathen explores all of the tried and proven dimensions of silence as a practical part of every day life, as a necessary form of self-discipline, as a manner of prayer and as a method of communication. Silence really is not a book particularly for clergymen, it is a book for any man or woman who seeks a sane lifestyle in the twentieth century.