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The Hum of the World

A Philosophy of Listening
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( 17 ratings, 2 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Hum of the World by Lawrence Kramer explores how sound shapes our experience of life, asserting that aliveness is intertwined with the auditory world. This lyrical and imaginative work traverses music, language, philosophy, and science from ancient times to today, inviting readers to appreciate the world’s persistent sounds, from chaos to subtle hums, as vital to perceiving existence.
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Format: Hardback
$5699
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This title is ideal for readers interested in arts and culture, music theory, philosophy, and those curious about the role of sound in human experience.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

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, it reveals how life is apprehended through sounds ranging from pandemonium to the faint background hum of the world.

This warm meditation on auditory culture uncovers the knowledge and pleasure waiting when we learn that the world is alive with sound.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Recommended by CHOICE, this book has been praised for its intriguing examination of sound within a cosmic context and was highlighted by Alex Ross in The Rest is Noise. The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians finds it a thought-provoking and warm meditation on auditory culture.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780520303492

Publisher: University of California Press

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 19 March 2019

Country: United States

Imprint: University of California Press

Illustration: 3 b-w illus.

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 499g

Pages: 256

About the Author

Lawrence Kramer, Distinguished Professor of English and Music at Fordham University, is an award-winning composer and the author of fifteen previous books, most of them with University of California Press, including The Thought of Music, winner of the 2017 ASACP Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism.

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    From the winds of Mars to a baby's first laugh, a prolific philosopher-composer reflects on the profound imperative of sound in everyday life. Experiencing Sound presents its subject as fundamental to all experienceβ€”sensation, perception, and understanding. Lawrence Kramer turns on its head the widespread notion that vision takes pride of place among the senses and demonstrates how paying attention to...
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