The Quiet Zone

Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence

De: Stephen Kurczy

Narrado por: Roger Wayne

""Captivating."" —Kirkus | ""Fascinating, deeply reported, and slightly eerie."" —BookPage (Starred Review) | ""The Quiet Zone will live on in your memory."" —Bill McKibben

A stunning portrait of an Appalachian community, the people who call it home, and the enduring human quest for quiet

Deep in the Appalachian Mountains lies the last truly quiet town in America. Green Bank, West Virginia, is a place at once futuristic and old-fashioned: It’s home to the Green Bank Observatory, where astronomers search the depths of the universe using the latest technology, while schoolchildren go without WiFi or iPads. With a ban on all devices emanating radio frequencies that might interfere with the observatory’s telescopes, Quiet Zone residents live a life free from constant digital connectivity. But a community that on the surface seems idyllic is a place of contradictions, where the provincial meets the seemingly supernatural and quiet can serve as a cover for something darker.

Stephen Kurczy embedded in Green Bank, making the residents of this small Appalachian village his neighbors. He shopped at the town’s general store, attended church services, went target shooting with a seven-year-old, square-danced with the locals, sampled the local moonshine. In The Quiet Zone, he introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters. There is a tech buster patrolling the area for illegal radio waves; “electrosensitives” who claim that WiFi is deadly; a sheriff’s department with a string of unsolved murder cases dating back decades; a camp of neo-Nazis plotting their resurgence from a nearby mountain hollow. Amongst them all are the ordinary citizens seeking a simpler way of living. Kurczy asks: Is a less connected life desirable? Is it even possible?

The Quiet Zone is a remarkable work of investigative journalism—at once a stirring ode to place, a tautly-wound tale of mystery, and a clarion call to reexamine the role technology plays in our lives.

Interesting story of a unique area

Having drove through Green bank and lost cell service for a solid hour I was interested as to why and I stumbled across this book. It was very engaging and paints a picture of a unique place in the world.

Couldn’t put it down

Not often I actually finish a book. Didn’t want this one to end. Hope he comes back to WV and writes another. There’s plenty of material out here in the hills.

The many side stories about nazis and free love communes and mountain justice were interesting.

The book was good. It also was more big picture than I expected. Lots of tangents. But well worth the listen.

In-depth view into Green Bank

I'm from West Virginia and I appreciate this book. I am from about an hour and a half south east of Green Bank. Kurczy did a great job at getting himself involved deeply with the community consistently for years. Investigative journalism to show multiple sides of a complex place that looks very simple on the outside.

Interesting Listen but A Lot Going On

Kurczy wrote the book beautifully. His interviews and research gave depth to what could have been a bland story about a town in Appalachia.

However, the story had a lot of surprising elements. I won’t spoil anything but there are chapters about Neo-Nazis, true crime, hippies, electro-sensitives, the supernatural, and Patch Adams.

These side stories were a lot to take on. I went into the book believing it would mainly address Green Bank, the Observatory, the National Science Foundation and the quest to maintain limited interference so scientists could receive accurate signals from space.

Of course these topics were addressed but in a manner second to the community’s people, politics, and hillbilly justice (not my term).

In a time when many of us spend way more time on devices thanks to the pandemic and remote work and distance learning, I wanted to learn more about how a town tries (and sometimes fails) to remain disconnected.

The electro-sensitive a were a good complement to this, but I could’ve done without the long winded look into the National Alliance and unsolved murders.

In the end, it was an interesting read and a book I would recommend to some. Kurczy’s writing made this for me. I enjoyed his experiences in Green Bank and interviews with locals. Without these, I’m not sure I would have finished the book.