Why praise silent reading?

Because silent reading is how all solitary reading is done.

And for some of us, the enjoyment of reading and the enjoyment of silence go hand in hand.

This is an idle enjoyment that springs from our youth. 

But certainly do not let having a large family stop you. Steal the time where you can find it.

The twin siblings of reading and silence are there for any idle pleasure seeker wishing for an empty house and a day alone in bed.

Let’s be lovers of silence.

More silence, more reading.

Amen, amen, amen.

If I have overemphasized the solitary and silent aspects of reading in this book, that may be because I am myself temperamentally inclined to value solitude and silence more than most people, but it is also because they are endangered species of mental experience and because genuine reading is simply impossible without them.

-Alan Jacobs, The Pleasures Of Reading In An Age Of Distraction (Amazon)