Sonic Wonderland

Ranging across an array of realms including literature, classical music, history, archaeology, psychology, neuroscience, geology, physics, biology and ecology, this book tours the world's most amazing acoustic phenomena and the sometimes even stranger people behind them - and pleas for a deeper appreciation and respect for our shared sonic landscapes.

"A lucid and passionate case for a more mindful way of listening to and engaging with musical, natural, and manmade sounds." —New York Times In this tour of the world’s most unexpected sounds, Trevor Cox—the “David Attenborough of the acoustic realm” (Observer)—discovers the world’s longest echo in a hidden oil cavern in Scotland, unlocks the secret of singing sand dunes in California, and alerts us to the aural gems that exist everywhere in between. Using the world’s most amazing acoustic phenomena to reveal how sound works in everyday life, The Sound Book inspires us to become better listeners in a world dominated by the visual and to open our ears to the glorious cacophony all around us.

This breakout novel from a brilliant stylist--dropping us into the life a female rock star--centers on that moment when we decide whether to go all-in or give up our dreams

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • Entertainment Weekly • Kirkus Reviews • The Christian Science Monitor In the picturesque village of Guzmán, Spain, in a cave dug into a hillside on the edge of town, an ancient door leads to a cramped limestone chamber known as “the telling room.” Containing nothing but a wooden table and two benches, this is where villagers have gathered for centuries to share their stories and secrets—usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine. It was here, in the summer of 2000, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a larger-than-life Spanish cheesemaker named Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras as he spun an odd and compelling tale about a piece of cheese. An unusual piece of cheese. Made from an old family recipe, Ambrosio’s cheese was reputed to be among the finest in the world, and was said to hold mystical qualities. Eating it, some claimed, conjured long-lost memories. But then, Ambrosio said, things had gone horribly wrong. . . . By the time the two men exited the telling room that evening, Paterniti was hooked. Soon he was fully embroiled in village life, relocating his young family to Guzmán in order to chase the truth about this cheese and explore the fairy tale–like place where the villagers conversed with farm animals, lived by an ancient Castilian code of honor, and made their wine and food by hand, from the grapes growing on a nearby hill and the flocks of sheep floating over the Meseta. What Paterniti ultimately discovers there in the highlands of Castile is nothing like the idyllic slow-food fable he first imagined. Instead, he’s sucked into the heart of an unfolding mystery, a blood feud that includes accusations of betrayal and theft, death threats, and a murder plot. As the village begins to spill its long-held secrets, Paterniti finds himself implicated in the very story he is writing. Equal parts mystery and memoir, travelogue and history, The Telling Room is an astonishing work of literary nonfiction by one of our most accomplished storytellers. A moving exploration of happiness, friendship, and betrayal, The Telling Room introduces us to Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras, an unforgettable real-life literary hero, while also holding a mirror up to the world, fully alive to the power of stories that define and sustain us. Praise for The Telling Room “Captivating . . . Paterniti’s writing sings, whether he’s talking about how food activates memory, or the joys of watching his children grow.”—NPR

Ranging across an array of realms including literature, classical music, history, archaeology, psychology, neuroscience, geology, physics, biology and ecology, this book tours the world's most amazing acoustic phenomena and the sometimes even stranger people behind them - and pleas for a deeper appreciation and respect for our shared sonic landscapes.

Several years after the events of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Alice finds herself back in Wonderland and called upon to save the world of playing cards and talking animals from the increasingly deranged Queen of Hearts. But all is not as it first appears in the fluctuating dream world and soon Alice is battling to save herself from the nightmare that is rapidly overtaking the realm. Have you ever wondered what would have happened if Alice hadn't drunk from the bottle labelled 'Drink Me', or if she hadn't joined the Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse for tea? Well now you can find out. In Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, YOU decide which route Alice should take, which perils to risk, and which of Wonderland's strange denizens to fight. But be warned - whether Alice succeeds in her quest or meets a dire end as the nightmare escalates will be down to the choices YOU make. Are you ready to go back down the rabbit-hole? This luxury illustrated cloth-bound Demy hardback is an unnumbered limited edition of just 80 copies, and features ruby-red endpapers front and back, gold stamped foil on white cloth on front, back and spine, saddle-stitched binding with head and tail bands, and Kev Crossley's sketchbook including sketches that did not appear in the main edition as an additional 23-page illustrated section.

Noise, as we usually think of it, is background sound that interferes with our ability to hear more interesting sounds. In general terms, though, it is anything that interferes with the reception of signals of any sort. It includes extraneous energy in the environment, degradation of signals in transit, and spontaneous random activity in receivers and signalers. Whatever the cause, the consequence of noise is error by receivers, and these errors are the key to understanding how noise shapes the evolution of communication. Noise Matters breaks new ground in the scientific understanding of how communication evolves in the presence of noise. Combining insights of signal detection theory with evidence from decades of his own original research, Haven Wiley explains the profound effects of noise on the evolution of communication. The coevolution of signalers and receivers does not result in ideal, noise-free communication, Wiley finds. Instead, signalers and receivers evolve to a joint equilibrium in which communication is effective but never error-free. Noise is inescapable in the evolution of communication. Wiley’s comprehensive approach considers communication on many different levels of biological organization, from cells to individual organisms, including humans. Social interactions, such as honesty, mate choice, and cooperation, are reassessed in the light of noisy communication. The final sections demonstrate that noise even affects how we think about human language, science, subjectivity, and freedom. Noise Matters thus contributes to understanding the behavior of animals, including ourselves.

A history of how humans developed our capacity for conversation—and what might happen now that computers are catching up. Trevor Cox has been described by The Observer as ""a David Attenborough of the acoustic realm."" In Now You're Talking, he takes us on a journey through the wonders of human speech, starting with the evolution of language and our biological capability to speak (and listen), and bringing us up to date with the latest computer technology. Language is what makes us human, and how we speak is integral to our personal identity. But with the invention of sound recording and the arrival of the electrified voice, human communication changed forever; now advances in computer science and artificial intelligence are promising an even greater transformation. And with it come the possibilities to reproduce, manipulate, and replicate the human voice—sometimes with disturbing consequences. Now You're Talking is the fascinating story of our ability to converse. It takes us back to the core of our humanity, asking important questions about what makes us human and how this uniqueness might be threatened. On this illuminating tour we meet vocal coaches and record producers, neuroscientists and computer programmers, whose experience and research provide us with a deeper understanding of something that most of us take for granted—our ability to talk and listen.

Story by Thom Jones, Texts by Nancy Spector and Douglas Fogle, Edited by Neville Wakefield Gaskell's work has been hailed by art critic Robert Malony to be 'as rich in performative ambiguity as Cindy Sherman's best works and as new as art can feel.' This first monograph, loosely based on 'Alice in Wonderland', 'Carrie', and 'The Exorcist', among other sources, creates a visually seductive and disturbingly fractured fairytale, an interrogation of the issues of identity, growing up and sexual transformation. 68 full-colour photos and 12 b/w illustrations.

The best Sonic stories featuring the Sonic the Hedgehog villains are collected in this deluxe hardcover graphic novel. The Archie-Sonic team takes readers on a curated tour of the most delightfully evil corners of the Sonic the Hedgehog comics from the series' 20-year history.