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FROM BOOKLIST, March 23, 2010
Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute Silence. Foy, George Michelsen
May 2010. 208 p. Scribner, hardcover, $22.00
Foy’s thinking about quietude began where it never exists: the New York City subway. With an audiometer, he measured the decibels of its deafening cacophony in addition to levels in his apartment, the
street, and the former mansion of Joseph Pulitzer, who hated noise. So acting as empiricist, Foy deployed his gadget everywhere he went for this book, including a space shuttle launch and a Cistercian monastery
in France; but acting as a writer, Foy explored variegated aspects of silence. He studied evolutionary explanations for humans’ acuity of hearing; he queried scientists who research the physics of sound; he
spoke with members of cultural groups that prize silence over conversation; and he sorted through philosophers and authors who valued quiet. As part of his sound project, Foy also moved his family away
from Manhattan’s ambient clamor to quieter yet still audible Massachusetts, where no remission was found from the modern world’s relentless aural assault from televisions, cell phones, and irate drivers. Foy’s is an adventurous and perceptively ruminative investigation of acoustical annoyances.
Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute Silence. Foy, George Michelsen
May 2010. 208 p. Scribner, hardcover, $22.00
Foy’s thinking about quietude began where it never exists: the New York City subway. With an audiometer, he measured the decibels of its deafening cacophony in addition to levels in his apartment, the
street, and the former mansion of Joseph Pulitzer, who hated noise. So acting as empiricist, Foy deployed his gadget everywhere he went for this book, including a space shuttle launch and a Cistercian monastery
in France; but acting as a writer, Foy explored variegated aspects of silence. He studied evolutionary explanations for humans’ acuity of hearing; he queried scientists who research the physics of sound; he
spoke with members of cultural groups that prize silence over conversation; and he sorted through philosophers and authors who valued quiet. As part of his sound project, Foy also moved his family away
from Manhattan’s ambient clamor to quieter yet still audible Massachusetts, where no remission was found from the modern world’s relentless aural assault from televisions, cell phones, and irate drivers. Foy’s is an adventurous and perceptively ruminative investigation of acoustical annoyances.
