The Sounds of Life, Karen Bakker
The Sounds of Life, Karen Bakker
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The Sounds of Life
How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants

Author: Karen Bakker

Narrator: Suzanne Toren

Unabridged: 10 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/18/2022


Synopsis

This audiobook narrated by Suzanne Toren takes you on an amazing journey into the hidden realm of nature's sounds The natural world teems with remarkable conversations, many beyond human hearing range. Scientists are using groundbreaking digital technologies to uncover these astonishing sounds, revealing vibrant communication among our fellow creatures across the Tree of Life. At once meditative and scientific, The Sounds of Life shares fascinating and surprising stories of nonhuman sound, interweaving insights from technological innovation and traditional knowledge. We meet scientists using sound to protect and regenerate endangered species from the Great Barrier Reef to the Arctic and the Amazon. We discover the shocking impacts of noise pollution on both animals and plants. We learn how artificial intelligence can decode nonhuman sounds, and meet the researchers building dictionaries in East African Elephant and Sperm Whalish. At the frontiers of innovation, we explore digitally mediated dialogues with bats and honeybees. Technology often distracts us from nature, but what if it could reconnect us instead? The Sounds of Life offers hope for environmental conservation and affirms humanity's relationship with nature in the digital age. After learning about the unsuspected wonders of nature's sounds, we will never see walks outdoors in the same way again.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Phyllis

Starting from the first paragraph, Karen Bakker just piled up the fascinating things that are happening and have been discovered in the area of bioacoustics. So, right there you can continue on reading the book or decide for yourself that The Sounds of Life is too technical or boring for you to read......more

Goodreads review by Luděk

Recently, I've encountered a number of books concerning the use of digital technologies (artificial intelligence, automated recording devices) for the study of the acoustic expressions of non-human animals, but none of them offered a comprehensive overview of the major bioacoustic discoveries in the......more

Goodreads review by Sarah

A book in a similar vein to The Hidden Life of Trees and the Inner Life of Animals, this is a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion of acoustic ecology, animal and plant communication, and many other elements relating to the sounds of nature. There will certainly be many ecologists, linguists, bio......more

Goodreads review by Sue

This is quite a technical read, at times, with very long chapters. That being said, it is informative and illustrative of the very real impact that bioacoustics can have on climate change. Also, this book promotes and increases empathy for our nonhuman partners on our one and only home, Planet Earth......more