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The Physics of Sound, 3rd Edition 3rd Edition

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 53 ratings

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For courses in Physics of Sound/Music.

Using a hands-on and experimental approach, this book incorporates developments in digital audio technology―including consumer products―into a firm foundation of the physics of sound. Selected topics are interesting to a broad audience, with many applications of sound and waves beyond strictly musical applications. No background in physics, mathematics, or music is required.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Professor Richard E. Berg received his B.S. degree in music from Manchester College (Indiana), with emphasis on piano and clarinet, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Michigan State University. After completing his Ph.D. thesis in the area of cyclotron design, be began work on the construction of the cyclotron at the University of Maryland. This work included design and construction of the external beam transport system, design of solid state radiation detectors, and support for research in nuclear physics using the cyclotron. In 1972 he became the director of the University of Maryland Physics Lecture-Demonstration Facility, which has since developed one of the largest and most diverse collections of physics demonstrations in the world. He has initiated courses in Physics of Music laboratory, and an honors course, Nuclear Physics and Society, involving applications of nuclear physics and radiation to contemporary society. Professor Berg has sung and played renaissance wind instruments with University of Maryland Collegium Musicum for over 20 years. He has also played harpsichord and recorder in a smaller group known as the Go for Baroque Ensemble. Professor Berg has been active in physics outreach programs, annually presenting a series of public demonstration programs called Physics is Phun, which has been attended by more than 100,000 people since 1982. Over his career he has presented more than 500 traveling demonstration programs to area school groups and more than 300 smaller programs at the University of Maryland for visiting groups. In the photograph Professor Berg is shown demonstrating the twelve-harmonic variable frequency digital Fourier synthesizer designed and constructed at the University of Maryland.

David G. Stork is Chief Scientist of Ricoh Innovations, Inc., and Consulting Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He received his B.S. degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of Maryland. Dr. Stork is an accomplished orchestral and chamber timpanist/percussionist, has performed in major concert halls throughout the United States, and performed on more than a dozen compact disks, including four world premier recordings. His principal research interests are in pattern classification, machine learning, and novel uses of the internet. He is an award-winning teacher (Ralph D. Myers Teaching Award, University of Maryland) and publishes and lectures widely on his research and scholarly topics as diverse as Renaissance painting and the relation of science fiction to science fact. His other books include Pattern Classification (2nd ed., Wiley 2000, W R. Duda and P Hart), Speechreading by Humans and Machines (Springer, 1996, W M. Hennecke), Seeing the Light (Whey, 1986, W D. Falk and D. Brill), and HAL's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality (MIT 1997), the latter serving as the source for his PBS television documentary "2001: HAL's Legacy." Dr. Stork sits on the editorial boards of four international journals and is a member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), OSA (Optical Society of America), INNS (International Neural Network Society), and the Sigma XI Honorary Research Society.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pearson; 3rd edition (August 17, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 398 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0131457896
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0131457898
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.7 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1 x 9.1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 53 ratings

About the authors

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
53 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2012
Not everyone likes reading about sound physics for fun, but I do and I would most certainly recommend this book. I love music and instruments and it's nice to see how science and art are so closely related. None of the state universities here offer sound physics as part of their music programs, so I bought this text for independent study. It's good for that.
One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2016
perfect
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 1999
The Physics of Sound is a great book for both musicians and nonmuscians alike. Its not a book for anyone who is afraid of a little mind work. I recommend Physics of Sound because immediately upon after reading it I gained a whole new perspective and deep appreciation for the fundamental elements,and principles that govern this wonderful phenomena we call "SOUND".
Ever wondered how fast sound travel? What about how various sound frequencies react to each other,and in rooms? What exactly is sound? All these questions and more,are answered here. Physics of sound even gives you basic formulas that allow you to manipulate sound in the real world.
Gain Knowledge,Gain Insight,Gain information.
7 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2012
Positives:
The book tries to introduce MANY topics in a manner that is somewhat accessible to nonphysics people.
The questions at the end of each section are ordered from easiest to most difficult.
Chapter summaries are provided.
Logical structuring of later chapters (musical instruments)

Negatives:
Authors sometimes "give up" on topics or mention them only as an aside.
Chapters rarely provide mathematics needed to answer chapter exercises.
"Big picture" is often lost in order to focus on minute details.
Some music theory knowledge is required
The book has moments of "bad writing"; that is, ambiguity in terms of paragraph structure (English stuff)
Poor applications/ has trouble connecting to a musician's experiences

I think this book would benefit from two additions:
1) Appendix A (Intro. to Music Theory) should be given its own chapter at the beginning of the book. I had trouble digesting overtones at first.
2) Perhaps a mathematics-heavy chapter at the beginning of the book.

Now, I could handle the math, music theory, etc. fairly well; however, as a book geared towards people with limited knowledge of mathematics, I still suggest that this book is only "okay."

If I were a music major, I would find myself lost in the finer details by the end of this book. I would perhaps desire a stronger foundation of the PHYSICS of sound.
6 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2011
This book is not the easiest to read. Incredibly verbose and the paper back that I received from Amazon seemed to be a poorly photocopied bound version of an original with drab diagrams and grainy pictures! Real attention grabber..not.

But if you can get past all of those things and actually stomach the reading, you will find that it is a very informative book and the author is clearly very knowledgeable on the subject matter. But that's IF you can commit to reading it, which Ive found that a lot of students in my class are having a hard time doing!

But my biggest complaint by far are the questions/problems at the end of each chapter that my professor assigns for homework!! These are some of the worst, unnecessarily tricky, poorly worded questions I have ever seen. Its like the author wrote them as if he was speaking to experts in the field who would be able to think about Physics and sound in such a detailed manner. Hardly ever any straight forward answers to be found in the chapters leading to hours of very frustrating homework.

We met the author in my Physics of Music class at UMD and needless to say, most of the students were LESS than enthused to see this guy after putting up with his book!
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2007
Whats better than taking a course where the professor actually wrote the book. Well I did just that and was disappointed. The class had many visual demonstrations but the book had very few pictures which made me wonder why his teaching style did not reflect the textbook.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2016
had some scribbles in the book from previous owner, but good quality. Good enough for what I needed it for in class.
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2006
Did they even have an editor for this book? I took a class with Dr.Berg and his class was interesting but the book was not helpful nor was it well organized.

Top reviews from other countries

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P. A. Linington
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on the basics of the physics of sound
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2023
Just right if you don't want to get bogged down with the serious mathematics that are in a lot of text books. Would be a good introductory text before approaching more serious studies. In the introduction professor Berg of the University of Maryland says that there are a set of videos titled 'Demonstrations in Acoustics' to accompany the book but I followed the link without success and emailed the Physics department and didn't get a reply. Probably can't get the videos now which is a shame.
Jacopo
1.0 out of 5 stars payer 100 euros pour un livre usé! une arnaque!
Reviewed in France on June 18, 2021
la première de couverture présente de nombreuses imperfections et des égratignures....
Raj
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, no mathematics, for audio lovers use to understand sound.
Reviewed in India on July 1, 2018
Good
John Bannon
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book. Chance to review all the stuff I ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 7, 2017
Excellent book. Chance to review all the stuff I learned in school, but had mostly forgotten. Easy to read.