The Hum of the World: A Philosophy of Listening (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780520303492)

The Hum of the World is an invitation to contemplate what would happen if we heard the world as attentively as we see it. Balancing big ideas, playful wit and lyrical prose, this imaginative volume identifies the role of sound in Western experience as the primary medium in which the presence and persistence of life acquires tangible form. The positive experience of aliveness is not merely in accord with sound, but inaccessible, even inconceivable, without it. Lawrence Kramer's poetic book roves freely over music, media, language, philosophy, and science from the ancient world to the present, along the way revealing how life is apprehended through sounds ranging from pandemonium to the faint background hum of the world. This innovative meditation on auditory culture uncovers the knowledge and pleasure waiting when we learn that the world is alive with sound.

Author: Lawrence Kramer
ISBN-10: 0520303490
ISBN-13: 9780520303492
Publisher: University of California Press
Language: English
Published: 03/19/2019
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 01/01/2020