| ISBN |
9781760642587 |
| Author |
Haskell, David George (author) |
| Title |
Sounds wild & broken : sonic marvels, evolution's creativity and the crisis of sensory extinction / David George Haskell. |
| Other title |
Sounds wild and broken |
| Publisher and/or associated date/s |
Collingwood, Vic. : Black Inc., an imprint of Schwartz Books, [2022] |
| ©2022. |
| Description |
xiv, 430 pages ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Origins. Primal sound and the ancient roots of hearing ; Unity and diversity ; Sensory bargains and biases -- The flourishing of animal sounds. Predators, silence, wings ; Flowers oceans, milk -- Evolution's creative powers. Air, water, wood ; In the clamor ; Sexuality and beauty ; Vocal learning and culture ; The imprints of deep time -- Human music and belonging. Bone, ivory, breath ; Resonant spaces ; Music, forest, body -- Diminishment, crisis, and injustice. Forests ; Oceans ; Cities -- Listening. In community ; In the deep past and future. |
| Summary |
The Earth's sounds are wonderfully diverse, complex and beautiful -- but they are under threat. A lyrical exploration of the diverse sounds of our planet, the creative processes that produced these marvels, and the perils that sonic diversity now faces. We live on a planet alive with song, music and speech. David Haskell explores how these wonders came to be. In rainforests shimmering with insect sound and swamps pulsing with frog calls, we learn about evolution's creative powers. From the Rocky Mountains to the streets of Paris, we discover how animals learn their songs and adapt to new environments. Below the waves, we hear our kinship to underwater beings. Starting with the origins of animal song and traversing the whole arc of Earth history, Haskell illuminates and celebrates the emergence of the varied sounds of our world. We learn that human music and language belong within this story of ecology and evolution. Yet we are also destroyers, now silencing or smothering many of the sounds of the living Earth. Haskell shows that sonic crises are not mere losses of sensory ornament. Sound is a generative force, and so the erasure of sonic diversity makes the world less creative, just and beautiful. Sounds Wild and Broken is an invitation to listen, wonder, belong and act. |
| Subjects |
Bioacoustics |
| Sound -- Physiological effect |
| Acoustic phenomena in nature |
| Nature sounds |
| Nature -- Effect of human beings on. |
| Animal sounds |
| Call number |
2022.165 |
