Reading today is typically silent – whether reading a book in a library or reading messages on our phones, we don’t expect the activity to be noisy. At most, we expect the sound of a page quietly turning. But Andrew Albin is interested in the medieval period, when books made all kinds of sounds. Medieval books were noisy: they crackled and creaked, and were usually read aloud (even in private). Andrew argues that we should think of medieval books not just as objects to look at, but as a kind of musical instrument that needs a reader to bring its sounds to life.