The Speed of Sound: Breaking the Barriers between Music and Technology: A Memoir

Uma história interessante pra quem curte música e tecnologias modernas. Mostra aspectos comerciais da indústria "fonográfica", e descreve a atividade intensa dos empreendedores de tecnologia do Silicon Valley, os altos e baixos. Vale a leitura.

Dolby's story is an amazing one! A candid and honest rags to riches story about making it big in the music biz to changing the way we hear our cell phones ring around the globe. The man is a humble genius and a great story teller to boot. Highly recommended.

This review will allude to some subject matter in the book which might be slight spoilers but not a pure giveaway to the story.Most people know Thomas Dolby from his hit, “She Blinded Me with Science” and others know some of his lessor known hits as well. Why would a musician who some people call a “One Hit Wonder” write an autobiography, and more importantly why should you care? First of all, he wasn’t a “One Hit Wonder” as he had other songs that charted throughout the world, but “Science” is the one people remember from his video days on MTV. The second reason you should care is because this man changed the ways in which music impacts our daily lives. This is why his story is so important. What you know of the sound and music landscape via websites and the ring tones in your phone were truly shaped by Thomas and his team of gurus during the early days of the Internet. Did you know that? I know many people don’t.Thomas Dolby’s story is unique from all musician autobiographies I’ve read mostly because it contains stories that truly draw in the reader to the point where you are thinking, “wow, did he really do this?” As we start the journey with Dolby we see him as a UK born young man who stumbles across a piece of a synthesizer in the trash outside of a store. He takes the piece home and through his tinkering is able to get it working to the point he creates synthesized sound in his bedroom. From there his electronic music journey begins and is one filled with successes, failures, and successes again. This isn’t a fluffy autobiography where a musician brags about why they are so incredibly awesome. This is a human story where you discover a man who oozes creativity, and his successes and failures truly impact him in very personal ways as they would with anyone. I truly enjoyed the early stories of his career, his dealings with unethical managers and record companies, and his subsequent stepping away from the industry to try something new. An average reader who isn’t a fan of Thomas Dolby’s music will enjoy the adventures and surely be as wowed as I was about the impact the man has made on modern music.In the book you’ll find the name dropping that you’d expect with any celebrity autobiography but it isn’t what you’d think. Of course you’ll read about his adventures with Michael Jackson and his collaboration with David Bowie, but the more interesting names to me were those who supported and worked alongside him during his career in music and technology. There are some truly amazing stories in this book about people I’d never even heard of who worked with him to create cutting edge technologies that still impact our lives today.The only downside of the book was that I felt it was too short. I’m sure the editor went through the manuscript to keep it concise, but there were so many stories and names mentioned that made me wonder what really happened next to those people/characters who helped shape his life and career. What happened next? Inquiring minds would love to know.As with anyone, Thomas Dolby has loved, laughed, cried, hit rock bottom, and rose back from the ashes. This book is a testament to the man, his family and friends, and to all the people who shaped his life who also inadvertently shaped our lives as well. I felt I knew a lot about Thomas Dolby’s career since I was an early fan of his music, but there is so much I didn’t know and many gaps in my knowledge were explained. Wait, my cell phone is ringing with that tune that seems so familiar to millions of people. Thanks, Dolby…thanks a lot! ;)Buy this book as you will truly not be disappointed.

Great book. Thomas Dolby is a genius.

Supongo que será disfrutado principalmente por fans de TD, pero hay casi tanto dato y reflexión sobre la música como sobre la industria y la revolución tecnológica de los 90.