Granta Books A Book of Noises.

by Caspar Henderson

A wide-ranging exploration of the sounds that shape our world in invisible yet significant ways.

The crackling of a campfire. The scratch, hiss, and pop of a vinyl record. The first glug of wine as it is poured from a bottle. These are just a few of writer Caspar Henderson’s favorite sounds. In A Book of Noises , Henderson invites readers to use their ears a little better—to tune in to the world in all its surprising noisiness.
 
Describing sounds from around the natural and human world, the forty-eight essays that make up  A Book of Noises are a celebration of all things “auraculous.” Henderson calls on his characteristic curiosity to explore sounds related to humans (anthropophony), other life (biophony), the planet (geophony), and space (cosmophony). Henderson finds the beauty in everyday sounds, like the ringing of a bell, the buzz of a bee, or the “earworm” songs that get stuck in our heads. A Book of Noises also explores the marvelous, miraculous sounds we may never get the chance to hear, like the deep boom of a volcano or the quiet, rustling sound of the Northern Lights.
 
A Book of Noises will teach readers to really listen to the sounds of the world around them, to broaden and deepen their appreciation of the humans, animals, rocks, and trees simultaneously broadcasting across the whole spectrum of sentience.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Music, Essays, Nature, History, Adult

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2023

Reviews

[Yousef Babikian · Rating 5 out of 5]

very very interesting and unique book!!! would highly recommend to anyone wanting a bit of light reading about all types of sound!!

[Movie Goer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very holistic, goes beyond what sound is and explains how different geopolitical, psychological and physical activities by humans, animals and even large bodies like planets influence sound and perception. It also touches upon how changes in sound then impact these systems!
(Also touches upon the importance of silence as noise itself)

[Erin Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wowww definitely recommend I learned some mind blowing things, made me appreciate silence. Henderson roped in humans impact on the world and not only its noises in every chapter. This was a very insightful and important book I enjoy yes good

[Mark Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

The equivalent of his Book of Barely Imagined Beings but this time he focuses on sound in the natural environment. A slight disappointment in that that earlier volume had footnotes in the margins, (there is word for this that escapes me at the moment, medieval writers did it all the time) but this is being picky.

Wonderful and inspiring - there is a chapter on sound and space which is fascinating. Web links to follow up in the footnotes, for those of inclining to rabbit-holes. inclination

[Ellie G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought this was very interesting and very thorough--I really love the concept and I learned some cool facts here. I think either the structure or the not-so relevant personal tidbits from the very Britishly humored author might have thrown me a bit, and I expected (maybe unfairly!) a little more legwork from the audiobook.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

More of a collection of essays with some through lines (and unified by the overall topic of sound) than a single work but no worse for that. Going to add to my "literary fiction is definitely a thing that is on the rise and a net positive" shelf.

[Kate]

DNF @ about 30%. This wasn't bad, I've just been trying to read it for months and never find myself drawn to it. Best cover though.
Kindle highlights are missing from this, which is a bummer because they were weird and interesting.

[Greg Bem · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book. Held my attention from beginning to end.

[Carol Surges · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew? Noises come in categories: Cosmophony, Geophony, Biophony, Antropophony and the sounds of climate change. An intriguing read. It comes in brief chapters that stand alone so dipping in and out of topics of interest is easy. Henderson must have spent years on research since his back flap says he's a writer/journalist - not a sound or audio specialist of any sort. You'll find lots to ponder and numerous rabbit holes to dive down.

[Cheryl Gatling]

Author Caspar Henderson writes that he has “a mind that jumps around like a monkey on amphetamines.” I concur. He has written here a book about sounds, and he intends to share with you everything he knows on the subject. He has obviously researched widely, and tried to put it all in: science, art, music, culture and folklore, speculation. Despite the fact that the book is organized into sections: sounds of space, sounds of earth, sounds of life (mostly animals), and sounds of humanity, the narrative seems to go ping-ping-ping from one topic to another.

He also quotes an impressive number of writers and experts. On page 4 of the Introduction he refers to Mark O’Connell, W.S. Merwin, Apichatpong Weeraethakul, Roald Dahl, Jorge Luis Borges, Lewis Thomas, and Thich That Hanh. That’s seven people on one page! I think that’s the record, but hardly a page passes without reference to some author or book.

The book is full of fun facts. The loudest sound ever on earth was probably the impact of the Chicxulub asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. The loudest sound within recorded history was the eruption of the volcano Krakatoa. It was heard up to 3,000 miles away. The northern lights are said to make noises: whistling, rustling, or crackling.

Stridulation is the name for when insects make noise by rubbing their body parts together. Bats are really loud, making sounds up to 110 decibels, it’s just that we can’t hear them because their cries are outside of the range of human hearing. Elephants can hear sounds, like us, through the air, but can also sense vibrations through their feet

Whale songs can carry across entire oceans, or at least they used to. The oceans today are so noisy with shipping and industry that the whales can hardly hear each other. The sperm whale can hear with that giant forehead.

I think those “sounds of nature” sections were my favorites. When addressing the sounds of humanity, he veers off into speculation, for example, what did hell sound like, as envisioned by Dante and Milton?

But it is very clear that pleasant sounds are helpful, promoting healing of trauma, and noisy sounds are harmful, creating stress, and decreasing children’s test scores. Henderson ends the book by listing some of his favorite sounds, and of course, I had to do the same.

I love the crack/hiss of an opening soda can, the purr of a cat, the low rattle and rumble of the snowplow going by my house on a winter night, the dawn chorus of birds, the whoosh of a match lighting.

I also want to share this random bit from the book: “It has also been found that when bees bump into each other they go ‘whoop!’ At first, researchers thought that this was a signal to the other bee to stop, but now it appears they are merely surprised.”

[Alex Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Noises off! Finished at last. The interesting parts of this are buried under verbal diarrhoea and far too many references seemingly designed to illustrate the authors intellect. Avoid.

[Nathan Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I really liked the idea of this book and there was more about it that I liked than disliked. As an avid outdoorsman and music appreciator there is nothing more special to me than sound. Where this book fell short for me was that it was at times an evolutionary treatise and to keep with the theme of the book, felt like I was being “yelled” at about climate change. I feel sad that the author cannot enjoy the sounds of nature without thinking of climate change.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and joyous celebration of sound.

Henderson coined the word auraculous, in the subtitle, as a combination of aural and miraculous, and defines it as "wonder for the ear." In this book he takes a trivia-heavy deep dive into as many different types of auraculous as he can identify, from the sounds of the cosmos and deep space through the noises of thunder, volcanoes, and other natural phenomena to the calls and hearing of animals and humans. The echolocation of bats and whales, the history of bells, the mythical sounds of Hell according to our famous works of literature, and so much more.

It is a work of wide-ranging exploration, appreciation, and fun.

Excerpts:

The rhythms of night and day, season, tide and long-term change inform our own, and the way we perceive and live. There is a vast, pulsing harmony--its score inscribed on a thousand hills, its notes the lives and deaths of plants and animals, its rhythms spanning the seconds and the centuries.

-----

It has also been found that when bees bump into each other they go 'whoop!'. At first, researchers thought that this was a signal to the other bee to stop, but it now appears they are merely surprised.

-----

Evolutionary processes give rise to forms and capabilities that few if any of us would have been able to think up. Evolution is not only smarter than you; it has a stranger imagination.

-----

Tupa, the first father of the Guarani people, stood up in the middle of the darkness and, inspired by the reflections of his own heart, created the flames and the thin fog, the beginning of a song.

While he still felt inspired, he created love, but he had no one to give it to. He created language, but no one could hear him speak it.

So Tupa recommended the gods to build the world and take care of the fire, fog, rain, and wind. And he handed them the music with the words of the sacred hymn, so they could give life to the woman and man. Now the world would not be in silence at last.

So love became communion, and language took over life, and the first father redeemed his solitude in the company of the man and the woman who sing, “we are walking this land. We are walking this shiny and beautiful land.”

[Megan Alvord · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just returned to the library and now looking up how Dewey decimal numbers are assigned, I might go back and ask them to change the number on this book. I don't think there is a number for perpetual name dropping though, which is what most of this book was. So many factoids from so many different subject areas, very little of which was physics (my library's assigned Dewey number). I did enjoy a few tidbits: the biology aspects of how a few different animals hear, some of the cultural references in using music and sound for healing, the occasional music theory drop. But overall this was, as another reviewer put it, verbal diarrhea.

And again, this book cannot be in the physics section with such gross and continuous misuse of the word resonance.

[Jordan Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wonderfully comprehensive in its exploration of sounds from the cosmos to the natural and human spheres until the final chapter on silence. It is not a book to be rushed. It is a book to be meditated on as contemplate and hold space for each sound’s place in the universe. It makes no claims on the importance or consequences of sounds. It simply lists all the diverse ways sounds are used and reacted to in order to help you notice things that have been around you all your life that you’ve never noticed.
With an expansive bibliography, this book will start you on a journey of discovery that may last for years. Reading this book is the type of experience I wish I could forget in order to re-live for the first time again!

[Gethin Manuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

In general this was a good book. So many short, snappy and interesting chapters on the nature of sound. BUT, as an acoustician I couldn’t forgive the use of “resonance” when Henderson really meant “reverberation”, justifying losing a whole star there.

This seems overly critical but it comes down to Henderson tending to use more appealing language and terms like “resonance” as buzzwords. As the book progresses, it got to the point where the writing takes on a more metaphysical form rather than being factually correct, sometimes losing any meaning in reality.

Otherwise, some great writing contributing to acoustics in popular science literature, and a topic very close to my heart.

[Andrew Brassington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to really enjoy this, but certain details nagged at me. I understand that the book offers a brief examination of different types of sound in the world (and beyond) but sometimes the conciseness of entries left something to be desired. For example, how can you write an entry on sounds owls produce and not discuss how they hoot? I want to know!! So badly!!!
I think this book also doesn't quite stick the landing regarding its eco-criticism. Yes, it is valuable to discuss the relationships between ecologies and sound, but it did feel clunky and forced on occasion.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Book of Noises is a lot of things. A lot of things. The science is too much most of the time, but the themes and the errata are marvelous. It would be better, less elaborated on and divided into dozens of individual essays- she says. Amazing facts and stories to mine, but mine you must. The entire tome is painted with a very woke brush, impossible but to wade through it. Skilled writer, researcher, storyteller.

[Johan D'Haenen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zeer interessant.
Misschien had de auteur wat minder citaten mogen aanhalen om zijn eruditie in de verf te zetten en misschien had hij ook de stukken mogen weglaten waarin hij tot in de details muziekstukken noot voor noot analyseert, maar ik mag veronderstellen dat andere lezers daar geen aanstoot aan zullen nemen.
Ik heb in ieder geval heel wat opgestoken van dit werk en met behulp van het internet en youtube heb ik kleur en klank kunnen geven aan het verhaal dat hier gebracht wordt.

[Anne Herbison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite not claiming to be The Book of Noises, this is a comprehensive work with wide-ranging references across many aspects of human endeavour and animal life - but not cats purring which I have heard can have healing effects! Perhaps Henderson considered it, but could not find the scientific evidence. The author coined the term 'auraculous' which is very fitting when you consider, as he does, the enormous, miraculous, and generally overlooked significance of sound.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short essays on sounds - in space, in the earth, in the natural world and in the human world full of curious and interesting detail.
This is a slow savor. Henderson's research is wide-ranging, and he explains things reasonably well. He describes origins, qualities, uses and much more -- and you wish there were an audio accompaniment. The author is an English journalist, but also a long-time choral singer, so he has experience with paying attention to sound. I found this really interesting.

[Kate]

Dipped into this at a few points, but couldn't get into it -- felt like a wikipedia-compilation of factoids mixed in with a liberal sprinkling of literary & historical quotes & references.... Just wasn't feeling it at the time & then it was due back at the library. Maybe just something about reading all about sounds that's very tricky to really enjoy also?

[Kerry Pickens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an interesting read as it covered a large range of topics related to sound. Each topic was covered as a chapter so you could parts you weren’t particularly interested in. The author covers the history of science under each topic so you get a pretty thorough understanding of how each sound became a part of our body of knowledge.

[Alistair Leadbetter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rich exploration of noise and sound. It's wonderful to have your ears opened to noise, and to pay more attention. There's a lot here and I was overwhelmed at times. I also realised I know pretty much nothing about musical theory.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the authors advice I read this straight through afraid I might miss something interesting. Definitely could have skipped a few chapters but really enjoyed:

Plant
Noise pollution
The sounds of climate change
Healing with sound
Frontiers
Some good sounds

[Zoe He · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about sounds. Picked it up in bookstore randomly, glad to found some chapters within sparkle, but there are also repeated examples that use in different articles.

While there are "thesis-like conclusions", I appreciate the overall tone and way of thinking. Move towards sound.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among the top 10 books I’ve read in the last 5 years. It will require deep thought and an expansion of what you think of sound and silence, both in nature and culture. I borrowed from the library but will be purchasing a private copy to keep.

[Keenan Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read for those who like essays about any and everything to do with noise. Need to actually listen to the songs it talked about, and it got more philosophical than I realized it would going into it.

Its only fault is that it isn't longer.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is cool. it's a lightweight survey course by design and has tons of interesting thoughts peppered in, but is not too deep on any of the varied topics. I do like the loose structure of the book, you can pop in to any chapter. But I wish there was more holding it all together.

[Mandi Fast · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an absolute task to finish. I could have spent the whole year reading and taking notes on each chapter. I did really enjoy the experience, mostly. Did I understand all of it? No. Must come back to this with a (large) notebook and pen.