Noise

by Bart Kosko

From the well-known science commentator and bestselling author of Fuzzy Thinking comes a revelatory look at the phenomenon of noise A celebrated maverick in the world of science, Bart Kosko introducedand continues to popularize in print and television mediathe revolutionary concept of fuzzy logic. In his latest book, he provides the first scientific history of noise aimed at the general reader. Noise is a social nuisance, a cause of deafness and high blood pressure, and an all-around annoyance. But what is noise really? As Kosko simply states, Noise is a signal that you don't like. It occurs at every level of the physical universe, from the big bang to blaring car alarms. Today, noise is considered the curse of the information age, but, in fact, not all noise is bad. Debunking this and many other commonly held beliefs about noise, Kosko gives readers a vivid sense of how deeply noise permeates both the world around us and within us. Along the way he covers many compelling topics, from noise's possible role in the ice ages to noise pollution laws, the use of noise to generate synthetic speech, and Hedy Lamarr's contribution to noisy wireless communication. The result is a vastly entertaining and illuminating scientific journey that promises to do for noise what James Gleick did for chaosmake it vital, fascinating, and relevant.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

272 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Rossdavidh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently finished reading "Noise", by Bart Kosko. At least, I think I finished it. The book didn't really end. It just sort of stopped.

Bart Kosko is an electrical engineering professor at USC. He has written books on topics like fuzzy logic (not to be confused with wooly thinking). This book is on noise, as opposed to signal, but taken in the broad (sometimes metaphorical) sense.

So, we learn about things like how "urban great tits" (sic) sing at higher minimum frequencies in urban areas, just to be heard over all the clatter of the city. Or that a humpback whale song can be 170 decibels loud in water, not quite as loud as a rocket engine, but louder than a jet engine or a 12 gauge shotgun (kind of blows their New Age image, for me). Or that the actress Hedy Lamarr was co-inventor (with a composer and writer named George Antheil) of frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication, despite neither she nor Antheil having any formal background or experience in related fields.

Some portions of the book are accessible to those without an engineering education/interest. There are a few parts you may want to skim, if (for example) the idea that much of the "real world" noise that engineers assume is Gaussian, may really be Cauchian, is not one which seems to you worth spending some time to consider.

But, put another way, it's less abstract. Gaussian noise assumes that the random, background stuff is distributed like a bell, with a tiny bit of a flare. The widest part of the bell isn't all that wider than the middle part. That kind of noise is like wind noise on the beach at night.

Cauchian noise assumes that random, background stuff has occasional weirdness, that's way different than the normal stuff. Sometimes this is called "popcorn noise", because (like popcorn popping) there are occasional random events that are way bigger than the norm. If IQ's were distributed this way (instead of with a Gaussian curve), we'd find an occasional person with an IQ of 500.

But, if we design everything with normal noise in mind, and what we get is popcorn noise instead, we could be in trouble. Which is where I thought Kosko was headed with this book. Instead, he takes a kind of aimless walk through a bunch of topics on noise, then stops. Not stops the aimlessness, just stops the book.

I was taken by surprise by its end in part because, after 160 pages of text, there's 90 pages of notes at the end, so the thickness of book left made me think we weren't close to done. Maybe it's a self-referential joke, to have such an unpredictable end? Maybe he ran out of steam, and it was time to close the thing and collect the paycheck? Maybe the topic of noise is inherently hard to organize into a coherent narrative?

No matter, I liked the book anyway. Consider it bad branding: this is actually a book of essays on the topic of noise, incorrectly labeled as chapters. Enjoy the one about the difference between pink noise and brown noise, or why white noise is impossible. Read about the student who, for one of Kosko's classes, designed a device to cancel the noise in his apartment when the nearby school let the kids out for recess (and fantasize about buying such a device). Then, whenever Kosko runs out of topics to tell you about, just stop.

[Andrew Skretvedt · Rating 3 out of 5]

(working from recent memory, the book's already gone back to the library)

This title is less about the social and cultural impacts of noise as well as its evolution in our environment (although it curiously and almost boringly went on at length about law regarding nuisance, grazing even areas that weren't noise focused at all). If you what a better treatment on this, how we've grown into noisy environments as a society and how we deal with the impact of noise, I recommend "Discord: The Story of Noise" by Mike Goldsmith. His treatment includes a fairly rich historical overview which I enjoyed.

The subject that this book keeps lingering over, one I believe is an area of specific expertise for the author, was about stochastic resonance. It's a subject that is rather fascinating which I knew nothing about: take a signal without much obvious definition, add just a little random noise to it, and out pops a much clearer version. The most repeated example the book gives is an extremely high-contrast picture of a baboon (or whatever, I think I saw a pretty girl in one), the book used a black and white example for ease of printing. You cannot really tell what it is at first. Then some noise is added, and the result is an instantly recognizable and useful image, with the effect being just like using diffusion dither to simulate shades of grey in a medium that is strictly black and white. Add too much noise, and the image is lost again in featureless snow.

The end-notes are quite extensive, and amount to almost one-third of the entire book. They also get quite math heavy, suitable to someone with experience or interest in the field, whereas the book text is written for a lay reader.

Also of note was the interesting discussion of noise "colors" (white noise, pink noise, brown noise, etc.), which boiled down to the distribution of energy across frequencies in the noise spectra.

[penny shima glanz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite a fascinating read and I learned (in theory, I promptly forgot most of it) a ton about noise and signals and all that stuff I never bothered to study before. It’s a well written book that doesn’t scare you with the maths, sciences, ee, and whatever else was inside. I found the quotes at the start of each chapter the most fascinating.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noise ... in all of its varieties
neuroonal, cosmological, legal concepts, electrical engineering, good noise.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

To me the most interesting aspect of Noise is the person who recommended it, a middle aged homeless woman with whom I’ve had much discourse as a library employee. As she waxed on about Noise, I understood, as a scientist myself, the basic concepts, but not the details. I thought these details would be clarified in the text, and was amazed at my inability to grasp them. Explanations were by way of complex mathematics and physics. Even the graphs and charts were math-based, often using logarithms. Since so much of the book went over my head, I didn’t learn much from it beyond what my friend D. had told me. Once the library reopens after the quarantine, I can’t wait to tell my homeless friend how much smarter she is than I am, a mere environmental scientist.

The book itself, after explaining the basics of noise, gets into the concept of stochastic resonance, that is, using noise to reduce noise, particularly as applied to digital signal processing. One method is applying an approximation of white noise, which the book proves can never be pure. Another is shaping the applied white noise into a practical anti-signal. The third is adaptive noise cancellation, or building a mathematical model of the ambient noise and subtracting it from the system.

Author Bart Kosko, a research scientist, describes various microsystem noise reduction scenarios, then gets into his own research in nanosystem noise reduction. He also states that given that Brownian motion is characteristic on a molecular level, noise is inherent in all systems. He proposes that, in fact, life would not be possible without noise.

No doubt, Noise would be an eye-opening read for mathematicians, engineers, and physicists interested in the topic. However, for the rest of us—leave it to your genius friend to explain it to you.

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live in a medium-sized city by American standards. It's large enough to have a terrible public transit network and a modestly-sized airport. If I listen carefully, I usually hear cars driving and emergency sirens. Perhaps an airplane flies directly overhead.

What is noise? According to the dictionary, noise is a sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disturbance. Yet another definition of noise is more technical. It refers to the irregular fluctuations that accompany an electrical signal but are not part of it. Both definitions of noise call it something unwanted or have a negative connotation.

Author Bart Kosko discusses noise in all its forms. Although noise has a negative connotation, Kosko argues that noise is beneficial if applied carefully and in certain situations. The book refers to this as stochastic resonance. Stochastic resonance's first application was in climate dynamics, but noise pervades our universe. Another application of stochastic resonance is machine learning.

The book is expertly crafted. It contains complicated equations and explanations in the notes section at the back. I enjoyed the book. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[Yilaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frankly this is mostly a physics book on noise with some last-minute and half-baked afterthoughts on how it affects us and the environment.

[Hubert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly challenging read that advocates for the use of noise as something that can improve signal processing, and might even be essential to life processes. The book's thesis fights against the notion that noise is inherently bad, and that there are important parameters to consider when studying noise. Though geared for the lay reader, the book still came off as being somewhat challenging. A background in signals and systems, in electrical engineering, or in neural networks might be helpful. Or it might simply be worth a reread.

It's still a respectable text, and fairly short at 166 pages (prior to the lengthy notes, where you can find the academic references (and equations) that support the man text.

[Marwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It provided an interesting perspective on what exactly noise is, and how he thinks it differentiates from music. Noise is a nuisance. But not this book. I thought it was very good, so i'm going to give it a solid 4 stars.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extraordinarily interesting subject matter, rather clumsily explained. He either spends too much time explaining simple concepts, or blasting through college courses in a paragraph. Gets 4 stars for doing what all nonfiction should: taught me some and inspired me to learn more

[Alexi Parizeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great attempt to bridge academic writing with popular science. It definitely challenges the reader to keep up (especially if you take in all the End Notes). I also appreciated the author's own voice coming through.

[Cheryl]

Not engaging to me. Doesn't seem to be headed to any point that needs so many pages to discuss.