“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” Why does a person like Pico Iyer, who has traveled a lifetime from Easter Island and Ethiopia to Cuba and Kathmandu, consider that just a few moments of stillness in a room can represent the ultimate adventure?

Perhaps it is because the crazy pace of the modern world creates the need to slow down, to disconnect, and to allow ourselves to experience tranquility. In The Art of Stillness, Iyer explores the lives of people who sought peace through stillness. His unexpected encounters with Leonard Cohen, during the years the singer-songwriter followed the path of the Zen monk, revealed to him that stillness can stimulate creativity.

Iyer explains how many—like Mahatma Gandhi, Marcel Proust, and Emily Dickinson—found in stillness a sense of fulfillment. Ultimately, he shows us a way to rediscover the wisdom of an older age.