"Rich in explanations and do-it-yourself activities, and assuming only a high school background, this is the best text I know on how sound actually works. But what makes this book truly a treasure is the degree to which it is so fully informed by Heller's particular scientific genius: he shows by example after example how to think through complex and nonlinear systems to capture their essential features, leading to deep, novel, and practically applicable insights."—David Politzer, Nobel Laureate in Physics

"This delightful book is written for a wide-ranging audience with diverse interests and musical/acoustical backgrounds. With detailed and physically intuitive discussions, interesting historical information, richly illustrated figures, exemplary sound files, and interactive computer animations (via whyyouhearwhatyouhear.com), this textbook covers an abundance of acoustical physics topics associated with the generation of sound, sound propagation, music, musical instruments, human perception of sound, room acoustics, and much more."—Steven Errede, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"Covering a massive amount of material, this sweeping book contains sophisticated concepts and an immense amount of information, and includes topics left out in other books on the same subject. Singular and unique, it has no worthy competitors."—William Bickel, University of Arizona

"This book—with its accessibility and breadth of scholarship—is an impressive work that I would recommend highly. This is a fantastic addition to the subject."—Paulo Bedaque, University of Maryland