Sonic Wonderland A Scientific Odyssey of Sound

About this book

An original and compelling tour of the world's most amazing acoustic phenomena and a passionate plea for a deeper appreciation of and respect for our shared sonic landscapes. Creaking glaciers, whispering galleries, stalactite organs, musical roads, squeaking beaches, groaning waterwheels, frogs that croak in Mexican waves, Mayan pyramids that produce echoes that chirp like a bird – these are just a sample of the impressive, strange and surprising sounds that the acoustic engineer Trevor Cox has tracked down in his search for the 'sonic wonders of the world'.

In Sonic Wonderland, he uses his experiences of visiting sewers, caves, tidal bores, burial mounds, sand dunes, concert halls and more to explore how sound is made and altered by the environment, how our body hears, perceives and reacts to peculiar sounds, and how sounds and acoustics have inspired musicians, artists and writers. Ranging across a dizzying array of realms including literature, classical music, history, archaeology, psychology, neuroscience, geology, physics, biology and ecology, Sonic Wonderland is an original and compelling tour of the world's most amazing acoustic phenomena and the sometimes even stranger people behind them – and a passionate plea for a deeper appreciation of and respect for our shared sonic landscapes.

Please note, this book is published in the US under the title The Sound Book: The Science of the Sonic Wonders of the World

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Biography

Born in 1967, Trevor Cox is professor of acoustic engineering at the University of Salford and president of the Institute of Acoustics. He has presented numerous science radio documentaries and has written for the New Scientist. He is an associate editor for an international journal of acoustics.