The Sound of Winter
Paying attention to the noises around us.
On the coldest days, I like to have my window open—just a little! The sound of winter is so quiet that it’s loud. It makes for the best white noise. And when it snows, the snow absorbs sound, so that’s why the air sounds so muffled and insulated on winter days. It’s one of my favorite sounds. The trees being dead also plays a role, apparently. And less critters and birds are out and about. I’m not a scientist, but it’s a fascinating combination of physics, meteorology, and perception.
The other month, my friend Allison gifted me a book called A Book of Noises: Notes on the Auraculous. I remembered seeing a TikTok last month of someone saying that you shouldn’t gift a book to someone who loves reading. And I couldn’t disagree more. Receiving a book—especially from someone who knows you well—is one of the most thoughtful gifts you can get. (But if you are going to give someone a book, just make sure you know what type of material they like reading).
But back to A Book of Noises. The author, Caspar Henderson, talks about the word auraculous and its meaning: a wonder for the ear. The book is described as a wide-ranging exploration of the sounds that shape our world in invisible yet significant ways. It’s a series of short essays that go over sounds of space, sounds of earth, and sounds of humanity. Some of the sounds discussed are sounds you’ve heard of, others you’ll probably never hear in your life.
A few excerpts I really enjoyed from A Book of Noises:
“…‘durational listening’—sitting still and paying attention for a long time—can allow [a] place to impose itself on us, outside of the limits of our normal attention.”
“A sound directly from your left or right takes about half a millisecond—that is, half of a thousandth of a second—to reach the ear on the other side of your head and will be slightly quieter, and the brain can tell the difference quite easily.”
“Music that is entirely regular and predictable verges on the inhuman. There is beauty in imperfection. Error— not in the sense of a mistake, but rather its Latin route errare: to wander, to go astray, and its Sanskrit cousin arsati: to flow—can be generative.”
The sound of dogs’ little feet walking on the sidewalk. The people you love laughing. The produce crates being unloaded into grocery stores and bodegas every day. The espresso machine running at the coffee shop. The sound of conversations and forks clinking at a restaurant. Your pasta sauce bubbling and simmering in your pot. There is so much beauty in everyday sounds.
Latest Loves
Checking out the book Pure Colour from the library and loving every page of it
Re-watching Mad Men since the last time I saw it in 2015 (buy the boxed set on Apple TV!!!)
This little library card stationary for writing down my grocery lists
Meeting up with friends that I met from the internet (forever grateful)
Heladito from Kali Uchis’ new album on repeat
These Levi’s that I’ve been wearing non-stop the last month
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It's all the little things that makes the world so much more inspiring and amazing! Little things that we usually don't notice in a day to day bases. But if we take time to stop, wonder and listen. Magic starts happening! Thank you for sharing this new book that you love!