3.5
Aflame
ByPublisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
“Reading Aflame may help many to lead lives of greater compassion and deeper peace of mind.” —His Holiness the Dalai Lama
“A perfect read for the noisy and anxious world we live in right now." –NBC Today Show
“Slender and splendid.” – The Marginalian, Best Books of 2025
From the bestselling author of The Art of Stillness, a revelatory exploration of the abiding clarity and calm to be found in quiet retreat
Pico 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.
In Aflame, 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.
Radiant, intimate, and gripping, Aflame 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.
“Reading Aflame may help many to lead lives of greater compassion and deeper peace of mind.” —His Holiness the Dalai Lama
“A perfect read for the noisy and anxious world we live in right now." –NBC Today Show
“Slender and splendid.” – The Marginalian, Best Books of 2025
From the bestselling author of The Art of Stillness, a revelatory exploration of the abiding clarity and calm to be found in quiet retreat
Pico 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.
In Aflame, 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.
Radiant, intimate, and gripping, Aflame 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.
Download the free Fable app
Stay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
Rate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
Curate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesStay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building toolRate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tagsCurate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesAflame Reviews
3.5
“Beautiful, stunning, amazing. I have to admit I wasn’t paying 100% attention and may have fallen asleep for part of it BUT I am a big fan and would def reread. Picked this up for a yoga studio book club but really glad I did because it was beautifully written and at times moving. Would highly recommend to any and all.”
“A reflective memoir by Pico Iyer, recounting his experience in an isolated, beautiful and Walden-esque hermitage in Big Sur on the central coast of California where retreat is not so much as escape but about redirection and recollection.
I was mesmerized by Iyer’s writing style, and his recounting from memory over 30 years worth of visits to the Hermitage was lyrical, enchanting and full of nostalgic contemplation. As having visited the central coast of California, I was pleasantly surprised with the care and devotion to describe the natural beauty of one of the most picturesque places on Earth.
Iyer’s experiences and interactions with the monks and lay people at the Benedictine Monastery show how we can learn and benefit from silence and solitude - how by detaching oneself from the world, where we continuously strive, think, and act outwards, that by looking inwards we can seek meaning and self-actualization. “Loneliness is about the journey to self reflection. Sit in your self as paradise. People need the silence to hear themselves”.” All of these being especially poignant quotes that synthesize some of the wisdom in being in such a place.
Aflame is such a wonderful way to title his book, as it brings together many different themes and life events, from the burning of Iyer’s home in Santa Barbara which spurred him to seek retreat in The Hermitage, to the Constant push and pull of Mother Nature and the wrath of forest fires on this idyllic sanctuary, and finally the burning fire inside oneself that is fed through contemplation and loneliness in one’s sanctuary but also through interactions with others and community.
Aflame rightfully champions solace and the quiet peace of self contemplation but also rejoices in the moments where we can interact, love and help one another and be present and intentional - and how the balance of both leads to a purposeful life.”
“A reflective memoir on solitude, compassion, and how quiet introspection deepens our understanding of life and relationships.”
About Pico Iyer
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.
Other books by Pico Iyer
Start a Book Club
Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!FAQ
Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?
Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?
How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?
Do you sell physical books too?
Are book clubs free to join on Fable?
How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?
