"Sound Affects" is about sounds and how they affect us and animals. This is a book of numbers, most of them in metric (kph, cm, m). It got mentally exhausting trying to relate the information to how I experience the world: "so, let's see, that would be....well, really fast, probably. Really loud. Something I can't hear." I have a good memory, but I've pretty much forgotten what's in this book (and I just finished) beyond vague impressions.

I enjoyed the first few chapters as they were about human hearing: how it works, how sounds affect us, listening to the sounds around us, and changing our sound environment to be more productive. The author then got into fun facts about animals (birds, land animals, and sea animals): the range of sounds that they can hear or make, why they might make sounds like songs, and how human noises are affecting animal behavior. Some of the 'human sounds are to blame' connections do seem likely, like birds singing louder and earlier in cities to be heard over human noise. Other examples left me thinking, "well, that could be caused by day-and-night artificial light, pesticides, EMFs, etc., and not just sound." The author then got into a rant about how horrible human sounds are to animals and we ought to do something about it. Followed by a chapter about the future of sound, wherein the author seemed pleased with the idea of people living mostly isolated at home surrounded by artificial, modified (and high-definition) sound curated by an AI that can cancel out sounds it thinks you shouldn't hear. I'd prefer to hear live birds, go to a live concert, and so on.

The book went on to talk about the sounds of natural disasters (mostly how loud they are) and outer space. The author frequently referred to evolution, so many of these were speculative stories about pre-historic events like asteroid impacts or the big bang or how we evolved hearing or songs. As I was expecting more about how different sounds affect humans, I started losing interest when told how horrible I am as a human and when the 'fun facts' just stopped being relatable. It wasn't quite what I expected and just stopped being interesting to me. There is a link to a website that has clips of the various sounds referred to in the book, which would have been interesting to listen to when actually reading the book, but I wasn't reading near an internet-connected device.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not huge on nonfiction books and much prefer ones with powerful impacts on daily life. I was hoping this book would delve a little deeper into impacts on human life (work, relationships, physical body, etc) and I quite enjoyed the portions of the book that did look at these aspects. However a larger portion of the book than I enjoyed focused on strictly facts about sound. It’s really in depth and well researched, but for me personally, I didn’t need quite so many chapters dedicated to talking about, say, the loudest waterfalls or what specific frequency animals communicate at. Fully aware this is a personal preference.

This book explores the often-overlooked power of sound, examining its impact on our lives and well-being. It guides readers to appreciate and consciously manage the soundscape around them.

This easy-to-read book is full of fascinating information. It focuses not just on the science of sound, but also on how society has historically ignored the effects of sound on life forms—and what we can do to make soundscapes more friendly.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

A combination of popular science and self-help books that is both interesting and engaging. I must admit that I have never paid much attention to listening and soundscapes, so many of the author's observations were new to me. As he writes:

“My belief is that increasing our awareness of sound and employing conscious listening can transform our happiness, effectiveness, wellbeing – and, in particular, our personal and societal relationships. Never have we needed listening more than we do today in a world threatened by polarisation, dogma and conflict”.

To make his point, he sprinkles his story with short 'What You Can Do' sections containing practical exercises and advice. It's definitely worth reading!

Thanks to the publisher, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book

A provocative book that sparks a deep dive into the world of sound. I'm eager to purchase the book to access the library of sounds explored in the book.

My thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this new book that looks at something we take for granted, or mostly complain about, the sounds of the world around us, from humans, nature, gadgets, music and more, how this influenced our development, and how by not listening we miss much around us.

I inherited my father's vision which has meant glasses since the fourth grade. As such, I have always had a fear about not being able to see, as books are something that I really treasure. I also took to my father's side for hearing, and this has always been excellent. Oddly enough not with human voices, as I find small talk pretty boring, but I can catalog sounds in my head, and know what, where and why something is making a sound. My dog understands this and when there is a strange noise in the neighborhood, my dog will look to me for a reaction. Usually I will tell her, "Guy next door is opening the shed, or Amazon is delivering something up the block." If I look confused, Mattie will hit the window barking away. My brother is my opposite, he has no need of glasses, but has my Mother's ear problems, lots of tubes, surgery and hearing loss. Though he can hear music well, and knows when his children are acting up. I take my hearing for granted, but after reading this book, I think I will treasure the world of noise we all live in. Sound Affects: How Sound Shapes Our Lives, Our Wellbeing and Our Planet by Julian Treasure is an examination of sound and how it shapes us in many ways, from our mental health, need to shop, understanding of the world, and even love for each other.

The book begins with a look at our modern world, and how sound around is louder, more people are using ear buds to enjoy their world of sound, including music, and podcasts. However we seem not to be communicating with sound much. There are no real elocution classes anymore. Most of our communications are done in text or emoji. Even the popular videos have added subtitles to the bottom, mostly for clicks, but people don't seem to want to listen to people any more. And yet everyone seems to have a podcast, and the world seems to be getting noisier. Treasure looks at the problems that we are having with hearing, people listening to headphones to loud, the world getting louder around us. The fact that hearing once lost is not something that comes back easy. Treasure than goes into the reasons why we should be listening. The first sound we hear is our mother's heart. Sound is a survival method, telling us to run when things sound bad. Sound can help our mood, get a person motivated, change a frown upside down, even make us spend money in stores. In an effort to engage more with sound, Treasure offers different exercises, way of making friends with the noises we hear, to separate the wheat that is important, from the chaff, which while noise, should be kept in the background.

Julian Treasure is known for his work in sound, creating Apps and research projects to further the understanding between humans and the sounds we live among. Treasure is also known for his TED talks both about sounds and communication. The book is a very interesting look at a part of the world we really don't pay much attention too, but should. The book is full of information and lots of facts. At times the book can get kind of deep both in science and in philosophy. There is a little of TED talk in the writing, especially with the talking about Apps and other programs. There are a lot of facts, but what I really enjoyed were the exercises that Treasure includes to make sense of the sounds one hears. Especially the one he calls mixing, where one tries to lower and raise different sounds, like a record producer would on a song. I've started doing this at work, and it really makes a difference.

A book with lost of fact and information, as well as makes readers appreciate all their senses. Readers of Mary Roach will enjoy the writing, and will learn quite a lot.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I found this book to be very informative and loved learning how sound can literally shape everything.