Master Handbook of Acoustics [Paperback]

Overall this book does a good job of explaining many aspects of acoustics. It gave me a good understanding of how humans perceive sound, how sound propagates in open and closed spaces, how to insulate rooms from external noise, how to construct ventilation systems to minimize ventilation noise, how to construct studios and control rooms (but, it doesn't investigate this topic very deeply; if you want to build a studio and control room then you need to consult a professional), how to construct sound absorption/diffusion/reflection devices, and gave good explanations on these topics: reverberation time, sound absorption, reflection of sound, diffraction of sound, refraction of sound, diffusion of sound, resonances in rooms, comb-filtering, multi-track recording, and distortion.

But, it does have some flaws. Often it doesn't explain things enough; sometimes it's more of a discussion of the topic rather than an explanation. References to other books/works are very old (very few are newer than 1980). Diagrams are in weird spots (usually a few pages ahead even though they could easily be placed on the page that they are being referred to by). Although it does explain many aspects of acoustics, it often doesn't go very far into the explanation; it only explains the higher-level concepts about the topic rather than discussing the physics that's involved. The last two chapters (which discuss software that can be used to analyze the acoustics of a room) are very confusing. I did learn a few things from them, but definitely didn't understand everything that was discussed in those chapters. And, the author didn't provide a very good explanation of decibels, logarithms, and the relation between sound level, pressure, and power.

Overall, the good aspects of this book outweigh its flaws, so it's a good book. It presents the information in a way that is relatively easy for a beginner to understand, although people with an intermediate understanding of acoustics would probably enjoy reading it too. Recommended for anyone who is interested in how sound works.

I like this book: it's mainly about acoustic principles and room acoustics. It's easy to read (even for a beginner) and is not too superficial. One of the few audio books I still return to every now and then.
I would buy this book again.

Very good in relation to room acoustics, but almost useless out of America. The book does not acknowledge the metric system, and the chapters about construction apply to materials and construction methods used only in America.

Otherwise, a really good book at hammering the basics in your head! If only there were metric versions of the equations...