The quiet zone : unraveling the mystery of a town suspended in silence / Stephen Kurczy.

Includes index.

Prologue: to anyone who will listen -- Part one. Quiet search. 1. Over the mountain ; 2. One of the science capitals of the world ; 3. Lots of bad news ; 4. Caretaker of the National Treasure ; 5. Spook stuff ; 6. Our own log lady ; 7. A powerful tihng ; 8. Back to the land ; 9. A low roar -- Part two. Quiet discovery. 10. Local Nazi diaspora ; 11. Command the evil to be gone ; 12. Murder by wifi ; 13. Papers and pencils ; 14. Behind the curve ; 15. Mountain justice ; 16. Where's the hospital ; 17. The true epitome of darkness -- Part three. Quiet end?. 18. A do-or-die situation ; 19. You've got to experience it ; 20. The only way out ; 21. Shuuter the place and move on ; 22. Don't you forget this ; 23. The nevre-ending story -- Epilogue: masters of social distancing.

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.