Mike Goldsmith is a freelance acoustician and science writer and the former Head of Acoustics at the National Physical Laboratory. He has worked in the field of acoustics for over 25 years and has written almost 40 papers, articles and reports about many aspects of sound, including speech, sound quality and the history of acoustics. His previous publications include Discord: The Story of Noise (OUP, 2012) as well as over forty children's science books.

"Wow! This book is nice...and cute...I highly recommend this book. Perhaps this is the best general book discussing "acoustics" in a very elementary sense." - Richard J. Peppin, Rion Co. Ltd. and Engineers for Change, Inc.

"The book has something for everyone, and the author has done a remarkable job in assembling so much information and condensing it into a truly pocket-size edition. I do not know of another title that covers so much about sound in a nontechnical yet scientific manner." - Michael Greenfield, Physics Today

"Sound: A Very Short Introduction contains an excellent balance of science and story, and illuminates the reader about many facets of this broad topic." -- Ray Eddy, H-Podcast