Clamor

About this item

A May 2025 Next Big Idea Club Must-Read Book An eye- (and ear-) opening investigation into how our ever-noisier world affects our health, our well-being, and our planet. Early-morning jackhammering from construction down the block. The dull roar of jets flying overhead. Your office mates' phone conversations. We are surrounded by noise, but it is a problem many of us shrug off once the immediate annoyance passes. Yet as gifted science journalist Chris Berdik explains in Clamor, noise can have serious health effects, disrupting our sleep, ratcheting up our stress, and destroying our concentration. As he argues, it is one of the most pervasive, yet underacknowledged, pollutants in our daily lives—one that we neglect, both individually and systemically, at our peril Drawing on extensive research and original reporting, Berdik shows how a too-limited understanding of noise, focused on loud sounds and decibel counts, has undermined a