Trevor Cox

Мир, оказывается, полон невероятно уникальных звуковых феноменов. Шепчущие галереи, рукотворные и нерукотворные шедевры акустики, привлекающие, в том числе, миллионы индусов, – это книга для всех изможденных визуальной подачей земного разнообразия. В добавление к погоне за зрительными, гастрономическими и спортивными ощущениями современным туристам теперь можно сосредоточится и на аудиальных. Согласно Т. Коксу, интересных мест на Земле насчитывается как минимум двадцать, и они удобно разбросаны по всей ее территории. В одних обитают необычные птицы-искусные звукоподражатели, в других вибрирует самое долгое эхо (37 секунд), в третьих, наоборот находятся безэховые камеры – самые тихие места на свете. Существующие чудеса лишь полдела, – научные эксперименты со звуком и слухом составляют не менее любопытную часть повествования.… (meer)

We are surrounded by sounds and noise, some of it good, like the song of a bird, but a lot of it bad like the hammer of a road drill. In the book, Cox is seeking out some of the natural and non natural sounds that we come across every day.

He visits locations all across the work in this book, from the natural caves and amphitheatres that have natural echoes and reverbs to the singing desserts in the Mojave dessert and the tidal bore of the river Severn. There are noises that that humans have created that define a place; Big Ben for example, as well as art installation that use wind and water to generate music. There is even a road in California that when you drive on it will play the William Tell Overture.

And from the noise he seek tranquility. He visits the quietest place in the UK, Kielder Forest and well as one of the quietest rooms in the world, where the complete absence of noise is unnerving. There is lots on buildings, from the Whispering Galleries of St Paul's and the arch in Clonmacnoise in County Offaly in Ireland and the Teufelsberg dome in Germany.

Found this to be well worth reading. The science is not too hard nor simple and Cox writes with a engaging style. He is an enthusiastic evangelist of sounds, and is well qualified to write this being Professor of Acoustic Engineering at Salford. And he has a website that you can visit to listen to these too: https://soundcloud.com/sonicwonderland… (meer)

I read this book on the recommendation of a friend who said it "changed the way [she] experiences sound." Curious!

So I picked it up and read it. Definitely makes me pay more attention to the sounds around me, and opens up a whole world that I had previously closed off. Now I'm snapping in stairwells and talking at walls just to see what it sounds like.

Not sure if it will make me better at anything but listening & paying attention to things, but those are worthwhile things to get better at.… (meer)