Fermor writes with characteristic elegance about the "huge, black wings" of monastic quiet settling over him—the initial agitation, then clarity, then unexpected peace.

Peter Matthiessen undertook a pilgrimage not for the elusive snow leopard but for the rarest creature of all: silence.

Sylvain Tesson—heir to Thoreau but with a humorous, vodka-soaked edge—locked himself for six months in a Siberian cabin on the edge of Lake Baikal.

“It’s only when I go on retreat that I feel I’m encountering something real—a lens cap has fallen away—and that reminder allows me to see my life in the world in its proper proportions.”