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.