A week or so ago the topic of noise came up. Today's Science Friday on NPR featured Dr. Burt Kosko who has a recent book on the subject. One interesting thing pertaining to photography is that adding noise to a washed out image makes it appear sharper and more contrasty. Best example with film image is, of course, grain.
And lest we forget - a noisy noise annoys an oyster.
Kirkus Reviews
Heady reading from a polymath popularizer... exhilarating
Book Description
From the well-known science commentator and bestselling author of Fuzzy Thinking comes a revelatory look at the phenomenon of noise
A celebrated maverick in the world of science, Bart Kosko introduced—and continues to popularize in print and television media—the revolutionary concept of fuzzy logic. In his latest book, he provides the first scientific history of noise aimed at the general reader.
Heady reading from a polymath popularizer... exhilarating
Book Description
From the well-known science commentator and bestselling author of Fuzzy Thinking comes a revelatory look at the phenomenon of noise
A celebrated maverick in the world of science, Bart Kosko introduced—and continues to popularize in print and television media—the revolutionary concept of fuzzy logic. In his latest book, he provides the first scientific history of noise aimed at the general reader.
Noise is a social nuisance, a cause of deafness and high blood pressure, and an all-around annoyance. But what is noise really? As Kosko simply states, “Noise is a signal that you don’t like.” It occurs at every level of the physical universe, from the big bang to blaring car alarms. Today, noise is considered the curse of the information age, but, in fact, not all noise is bad. Debunking this and many other commonly held beliefs about noise, Kosko gives readers a vivid sense of how deeply noise permeates both the world around us and within us. Along the way he covers many compelling topics, from noise’s possible role in the ice ages to noise pollution laws, the use of noise to generate synthetic speech, and Hedy Lamarr’s contribution to noisy wireless communication. The result is a vastly entertaining and illuminating scientific journey that promises to do for noise what James Gleick did for chaos—make it vital, fascinating, and relev
ant.
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