This is a review of a Goodreads First Reads book.

Even though I grew up during the 1960s, and even though the author, Bernie Krause writes of working in music during that time period, his is not a name with which I am familiar.

I was not sure I would enjoy the book, as it initially I thought like it might have something of a textbook feel to it. And in some ways, maybe it does. Krause speaks of the origins of our music in the natural world. He speaks of soundscapes (the audio equivalent of landscapes and seascapes), and how in our modern world sound/hearing is often the last one we think about. In part, that is because we have become very visually oriented.

I found, though, that I learned a lot in the book about sounds--bio-sounds, geo-sounds, and human (anthro-) sounds. And I learned how music had its origins in natural sounds and rhythms.

Another interesting thing is the fact that even when a biome "looks" as if it is in, or has been restored to, its original state, the sounds may tell a different story, a story of missing animal life, which might never recover.

This book is worth the effort to read. It is worth the time to think about the issues being raised.