Short Synopsis
A tour of the world's most amazing acoustic phenomena that reveals how sound works in everyday life.

Full Synopsis
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.

"An intriguing tour d'horizon of the world of sound." ---Kirkus

"Cox reminds us not only of the sonic marvels we often miss, but also how those sounds affect us." ---Publishers Weekly

"This is an utterly absorbing work, a call for us to become better listeners despite the flood of visual imagery in our daily lives." ---Library Journal Audio Review

"With a lively voice and British accent, Jonathan Cowley guides listeners through Cox's exploration of the world of unique and strange sounds." ---AudioFile