THE QUIET ZONE

In this riveting account of an area of Appalachia known as the Quiet Zone where cell phones and WiFi are banned journalist Stephen Kurczy explores the pervasive role of technology in our lives and the innate human need for quiet Captures the complex beauty of a disconnected way of life The Nation With a new afterword to the paperback edition 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 loca