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Unwanted Sound Of Everything We Want: A Book About Noise (2010)

by Garret Keizer(Favorite Author)

3.41 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

128256224X (ISBN13: 9781282562240)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

PublicAffairs

review 1: Keizer grapples with the problem that while most people hate noise, we like our own noise (my loud music is cool, yours is obnoxious) and we like the machines and processes that make the noise we also probably don't like. In thoughtful vignettes, he describes the legal battles over muezzin calls and church bells, neighborhood homicides over leaf blowers, Sturgis motorcycles vs. Native American sacred sites, the 1946 Causby v. US case of suicidal chickens and airspace, densely urban Dutch campaigns to Laten we zacht zijn voor elkaar, problems living too close to wind turbines, ethnic neighborhoods and the paths of airport approaches, Dylan's booed electric guitar at Newport, noise as torture, noise in prisons, Gilgamesh and the gods sending the flood to muffle noise and ac... moreceptable talking in theaters.
review 2: This is an excellent, thoughtful meditation on something virtually everyone can agree upon: painful and intrusive noise sucks. The politically aggressive bullying that typifies noise dominance is finally given a good lashing on these pages; which alone is gratifying enough to recommend the book. Stylistically, Garret Keizer sticks with his forte: the clever milieu of highbrow periodical wit. Perhaps the most resonant quality of the book is its ability to make the reader feel less alone in the world. Most of us tend to stoically (by our own estimation) tolerate a great deal of noise in our daily lives, convinced that the risks of confrontation outweigh the uncertain rewards of complaint. We also recognize, even if only by a tacit sense of fair play, that the rights of the noisemaker and the accidental ear overlap in uncomfortable ways. It's a rewarding experience to read through this exhaustive rumination on the subject. Even if it isn't necessarily going to make the world a quieter place, it's a good start.There are several pages of notes the end of the book, adding substantially to its bulk. An electronic version or the paperback edition would probably be the more economical - and ecologically prudent - choice. less

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