This innovative book, assembled by the editors of the renowned periodical Terra Nova, is the first anthology published on the subject of music and nature. Lush and evocative, yoking together the simplicities and complexities of the world of natural sound and the music inspired by it, this collection includes essays, illustrations, and plenty of sounds and music. The Book of Music and Nature celebrates our relationship with natural soundscapes while posing stimulating questions about that very relationship. The book ranges widely, with the interplay of the texts and sounds creating a conversation that readers from all walks of life will find provocative and accessible.

Introduction: Does Nature Understand Music?I. Roots of ListeningHazrat Inyat Khan, The Music of the SpheresRainer Maria Rilke, Primal SoundJohn Cage, Happy New EarsJohn Cage, Diary: Emma Lake Music Workshop 1965Tim Hodgkinson, An Interview with Peirce SchaefferEvan Eisenberg, Deus ex Machina. Murray Schafer, Music and the SoundscapeTsai Chih Chung, The Music of the EarthII. Wild EchoesRafi Zabor, From The Bear Comes HomeSteve Lacy, Sax Can Moo...Russell Sherman, from Piano PiecesJaron Lanier, Music, Nature, and Computers: A ShowdownDavid Dunn, Nature, Sound Art, and the ScaredDavid James Duncan, My one Conversation With Collin WalcottMichael Ondaatje, from Coming through SlaughterIII. The Landscape of SoundSteve Erickson, from Rubicon BeachClaude Schryer, The Sharawadji EffectPauline Oliveros, Sonic ImagesPauline Oliveros, The Poetics of Environmental SoundBrian Eno, Ambient MusicHildegard Westerkamp, Speaking from Inside the SoundscapeDouglas Quin, ToothwalkersFrancisco Lopez, Blind ListeningDavid Toop, from ExoticaRobert Schneider, from Brother of SleepIV. Many Natures, Many CulturesJohn Luther Adams, The Place Where You Go to ListenToru Takemitsu, Nature and MusicSteven Feld, Lift-Up-Over SoundingEric Salzman, Sweet Singer of the Pine BarrensBernie Krause, Where the Sounds LiveJunichiro Tanizaki, from "A Portrait of Shunkin"V. The Disc of Music and Nature (web link)ContributorsPermissionsIndex