A BOOK OF NOISES

A splendid survey of the symphony (and spectra) of sound.

An inelegant, if precise, title does little justice to a book packed with inestimable beauties, piquant facts, cacophonous din, startling conjecture, and unexpected connections among the human, animal, and inanimate worlds. Henderson, the author of The Book of Barely Imagined Beings and A New Map of Wonders, does not refer to “noise” as disagreeable sound alone. Far from it. He presents a series of fascinating entries across four harmonious categories: “geophony” (sounds of the earth), “biophony” (sounds of life), “anthropophony” (sounds of humanity), and “cosmophony” (sounds of space). Each is rich with wonders, but especially fine are the author’s analyses of music in its various forms and sound in the plant and animal realms. Henderson amplifies centuries of research into sound with engrossing cultural (art, literature, film), historical, philosophical, medical, and political references. Immediately apparent is the author’s wide-ranging erudition and curiosity, which also embraces pop culture. Although Henderson’s immersion in subjects is fascinating, occasionally he gets carried away with technical or historical detail. He presupposes readers have an academic grasp of musical forms, theory, and mathematical bases, for example, which will excite some and impede others. Nonetheless, he blends the rigor of a scientific mind with a lyrical appreciation of both the marvels of sound and the dualities of silence, in particular the relationship between silence and memory. He also demonstrates how hearing predated touch as our first superpower, and he looks for ways that we might forestall seismic testing of our seas and other harmful noise pollution. Fittingly, Henderson says writing the book was his attempt to listen closely, deeply, to the world around him. Readers will be grateful to accompany him on his “earwitness” explorations. This is a writer who thinks, really thinks, though always gives full credit to those who preceded him in sonic studies, quoting them liberally.

In sound terminology, Henderson consistently strikes dulcet tones.