Noise

A Human History of Sound and Listening

By: David Hendy

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Paperback | 1 April 2014 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
400 Pages

Age
0

Dimensions(cm)
19.8 x 12.9 x 2.6

Paperback

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Orwell Prize-nominated David Hendy explores the role of sound, noise and listening in 100,000 years of human history, now in paperback.

Prehistoric drummers used natural acoustics to recreate natural sound. In classical Europe, orators turned the human voice into a lyrical instrument. In Buddhist temples, the icons' ears were exaggerated to represent their spiritual power. And in modern metropolises we are battered by the roar of sound that surrounds us.

In the first narrative history of the subject which puts humans at its centre, and following the author's major BBC Radio 4 series Noise, acclaimed historian David Hendy describes the history of noise - which is also the history of listening. As he puts it: 'By thinking about sound and listening, I want to get closer to what it felt like to live in the past.'

This unusual book reveals fascinating changes in how we have understood our fellow human beings and the world around us. For although we might see ourselves inhabiting a visual world, our lives are shaped by our need to hear and be heard.

About the Author

David Hendy is Professor of Media and Communication at the University of Sussex. His books include Life on Air: a History of Radio Four, which won the 2008 History Today-Longman Book of the Year Award and was nominated for the Orwell Prize.

Industry Reviews

As social history it's hard to beat * Independent *
David Hendy reconstructs the acoustic environments of our ancestors and contemporaries in words, conjuring them to life for the mind's ear. Brilliant and thought-provoking - curl up somewhere noisy and enjoy! * Nigel Warburton *
Fascinating. Noise is something to shout about -- Emily Cockayne * Hubbub *
Praise for the radio series: 'A strange and lovely series ... Hendy found the roots of human language in the sounds and rhythms of bodies, our heartbeats, breathing, walking' -- Gillian Reynolds * Daily Telegraph *
Highly enjoyable and thought-provoking ... Hendy does a great job of reconstructing a whole range of long-gone sound worlds - and, importantly, he makes clear what is assumption, what is fact and what is guesswork, while still presenting his descriptions in an evocative way. -- Mike Goldsmith * Irish Times *

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