Materials Received

Leonardo Reviews 339 pointed out, it can also affect the way we experience situations and contribute to our “sense of place.” Yet soundscapes also represent a return to nature in this day and age of increasing noise levels, a backlash against the plethora of visual and auditory stimuli that surround us in our everyday lives. In her lecture “Domestic Soundscapes: A History of Neighbours and Noise Control in the Netherlands,” Karin Bijsterveld pointed out that Western Europe and North America have shown a heightened awareness of the problem of noise since the first half of the twentieth century. In line with the growing awareness of environmental sound, efforts are being made to preserve “extinct ” sounds: the Netherlands Audiovisual Archive presented its “Vanished Sounds” project, which has made sounds such as the noise of a scythe mowing grass available to the public. Other participants emphasized the increasing attention being paid to sound at different levels of society. Sound designer Othmar Schimmel stressed the need for a holistic approach to product design, pointing to the increasingly important part played by sound design in consumer products. Today, sound designers sculpt the sound of a closing car door, while schools and colleges are beginning to develop educational initiatives relating to soundscapes and listening awareness. Soundscape compositions cannot solve the problem of noise pollution, but they do reflect society’s growing awareness of its sonic environment. MATERIALS RECEIVED Multimedia Products The CSound Book: Perspectives in Software Synthesis, Sound Design, Signal Processing and Programming Richard Boulanger, ed. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A., 2000. 740 pp, illus. Paper, $55.00. ISBN: 0-262-52261-6. Book plus CD-ROM. Interactive: AIUEONN Six Features and A Game of Words which Starts with the Letter A Takahiko Iimura. Iimura, 1999. Dist. by Heure Exquise!: . CD-ROM for Macintosh and Windows. Compact Discs Cyclic MoKa (Moniek Darge, Karin De Fleyt). Logos, Gent, Belgium, 1998. Die Stimme der Schlange Konstantin Gockel. Logos, Gent, Belgium, 1998. Ea Various Artists (Raes, Darge, Lauwers, Baerdemacker, Verbauwhede). Logos, Gent, Belgium, 1999. Erik Lindgren Scores! Erik Lindgren. SFz Recordings, Middleborough, MA, U.S.A., 1999. Pictures of Motion Ken Field. SFz Recordings, Middleborough, MA, U.S.A., 1999. PP: New Music for Player Piano Various Artists (Raes, Brackx, Roels, Baerdemacker). Logos, Gent, Belgium, 1999. Stimuli: Stories in Sound Vol. 1 Lauri des Marais, Erik Lindgren. SFz Recordings, Middleborough, MA, U.S.A., 1999. Tape Play: Ten Works for Electronic Tape Kenneth Gaburo. Pogus Productions, Chester, NY, U.S.A., 2000. Books Las Caras de la Persuasión Faustino Pérez. Mediabyte, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 1999. 105 pp. Paper. ISBN: 99934-0-013-0. In Spanish. Cavernas y Palacios: En Busca de la Conciencia en el Cerebro Diego Golombek. Ada Korn Editores, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1999. 250 pp. ISBN: 9-5095-4031-5. In Spanish. Cryptorunes: Codes and Secret Writing Clifford Pickover. Pomegranate, Rohnert Park, CA, U.S.A, 2000. 99 pp., illus. Paper. ISBN: 0-764-91251-8. The End of Books—Or Books Without End?: Reading Interactive Narratives J. Yelowlees Douglas. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A., 2000. 200 pp. Trade. ISBN: 0-472-11114-0. Inner Vision: An Exploration of Art and the Brain Semir Zeki. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, U.S.A., 2000. 240 pp., illus. Trade. ISBN: 0-198-50519-1. The Origins of Music Nils L. Wallin, Björn Merker, Steven Brown, eds. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A., 2000. 498 pp., illus. Trade. ISBN: 0-262-23206-5. The Robot in the Garden: Telerobotics and Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet Ken Goldberg, ed. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A., 2000. 366 pp., illus. Trade, $35.00. ISBN: 0-262-07203-3. Strange and Charmed: Science and the Contemporary Visual Arts Sian Ede, ed. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, London, U.K., 2000. 195 pp., illus. Paper. ISBN: 0-903-31987-X. Exhibition Catalog Takahiko Iimura: Film et Vidéo Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, 11–30 May 1999. In French and Japanese. World Wide Web Sites Sequenza 21: The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly New e-zine includes composer bios and interviews (Sir Simon Rattle, Michael Gordon), “editor...