The Sound Book
The Science of the Sonic Wonders of the World
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Cowley
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By:
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Trevor Cox
About this listen
Trevor Cox is on a hunt for the sonic wonders of the world. A renowned expert who engineers classrooms and concert halls, Cox has made a career of eradicating bizarre and unwanted sounds. But after an epiphany in the London sewers, Cox now revels in exotic noises - creaking glaciers, whispering galleries, stalactite organs, musical roads, humming dunes, seals that sound like alien angels, and a Mayan pyramid that chirps like a bird. With forays into archaeology, neuroscience, biology, and design, Cox explains how sound is made and altered by the environment, how our body reacts to peculiar noises, and how these mysterious wonders illuminate sound’s surprising dynamics in everyday settings - from your bedroom to the opera house.
The Sound Book encourages us to become better listeners in a world dominated by the visual and to open our ears to the glorious cacophony all around us.
©2014 Trevor Cox (P)2014 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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7 Hours and 45 minutes . . .
- By Tim on 12-09-05
By: Simon Winchester
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Seveneves
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
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Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
By: Neal Stephenson
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Ringworld
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping. Larry Niven's novel, Ringworld, is the winner of the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.
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Genuinely Creative
- By Kennet on 05-25-03
By: Larry Niven
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The Complete Cosmicomics
- Translated by Martin McLaughlin, Tim Parks, & William Weaver
- By: Italo Calvino, Martin McLaughlin - translator, Tim Parks - translator, and others
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Italo Calvino's beloved cosmicomics cross planets and traverse galaxies, speed up time or slow it down to the particles of an instant. Through the eyes of an ageless guide named Qfwfq, Calvino explores natural phenomena and tells the story of the origins of the universe. Poignant, fantastical, and wise, these 34 dazzling stories - collected here in one definitive anthology - relate complex scientific and mathematical concepts to our everyday world.
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Moments of Greatness = Worth the Read
- By Amazon Customer on 08-06-18
By: Italo Calvino, and others
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Atlantis
- Jack Howard Series, Book 1
- By: David Gibbins
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Marine archaeologist Jack Howard has stumbled upon the keys to an ancient puzzle. With a crack team of scientific experts and ex–Special Forces commandos, he is heading for what he believes could be the greatest archaeological find of all time - the site of fabled Atlantis - while a ruthless adversary watches his every move and prepares to strike. But neither Jack nor his adversary could have imagined what awaits them in the murky depths - not only a shocking truth about a lost world but an explosive secret that could have devastating consequences today.
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Solid plausible fiction -- a touch too technical
- By GH on 06-01-15
By: David Gibbins
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Krakatoa
- The Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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The legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa - the name has since become a byword for a cataclysmic disaster - was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly 40,000 people. Beyond the purely physical horrors of an event that has only very recently been properly understood, the eruption changed the world in more ways than could possibly be imagined. Dust swirled round die planet for years, causing temperatures to plummet and sunsets to turn vivid with lurid and unsettling displays of light.
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Great subject, great writing, great voice
- By rwise on 01-26-04
By: Simon Winchester
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House of Rain
- Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest
- By: Craig Childs
- Narrated by: Craig Childs
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In this landmark work on the Anasazi tribes of the Southwest, naturalist Craig Childs dives head-on into the mysteries of this vanished people. The various tribes that made up the Anasazi people converged on Chaco Canyon (New Mexico) during the 11th century to create a civilization hailed as "the Las Vegas of its day", a flourishing cultural center that attracted pilgrims from far and wide, and a vital crossroads of the prehistoric world. By the 13th century, however, Chaco's vibrant community had disappeared without a trace.
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Poetic Travel Log
- By Staci Adleman on 01-09-19
By: Craig Childs
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Feathers
- The Evolution of a Natural Miracle
- By: Thor Hanson
- Narrated by: Andy Ingalls
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: Aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told. In Feathers, biologist Thor Hanson details a sweeping natural history, as feathers have been used to fly, protect, attract, and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and even art historians, Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us?
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Fantastic Science and Fun
- By Chris Reich on 12-28-14
By: Thor Hanson
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The Old Ways
- A Journey on Foot
- By: Robert Macfarlane
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual. Told in Macfarlane’s distinctive voice, The Old Ways folds together natural history, cartography, geology, archaeology, and literature.
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A perfect pairing of prose and narrator
- By chris on 11-05-12
What listeners say about The Sound Book
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Abel Okugawa Wright
- 12-14-23
The depth of sound
Loved this book so many great insights into the world of sound. Fascinated and very enjoyable!!!
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- Jan9518
- 06-01-15
Reader prounounces every sentence the same.
An audiobook version of a written text about aural phenomena is a bit... oxymoronic. But the narrator's utter lack of range--every sentence is identical, no kidding--is simply moronic.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jeff Berry
- 01-09-19
Feels like a missed opportunity
The content here is great - lots of interesting descriptions of aural phenomena. However, an audiobook feels like the perfect venue to actually include some of the field recordings the author describes. I want to hear the echo recording from the tower in Berlin or the sewers, or some of Chris Watson's Antarctic ice sounds, etc. I understand that to do so would increase the production cost, but it would really help this book out.
Unfortunately the narration on this one is pretty bad. The narrator uses the same prosodic inflection for every sentence, which is often distracting to the point of losing focus of what the reader is saying, and instead concentrating on the ridiculous way he reads it.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Reginold
- 04-11-18
So much info, but the narrative meanders
It will take dedication to finish this one. So much info, but the narrative meanders
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- Question Everything
- 02-16-16
Sounds Boring
What would have made The Sound Book better?
Interesting content. I read reviews that raved about the fascinating content. They must of been friends of the author or total nerds about the characteristics of sounds.
What could Trevor Cox have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
Talked less about the reveberation characteristics of an empty fuel tank and more about unusual / unexplained sounds generated by nature / the earth.
Which scene was your favorite?
When the book was finished.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
disappointment.
Any additional comments?
No I've already spent more time talking about this book than it deserved.
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