The Hum of the World

“A masterpiece.”—Michael Klein, author of Music and the Crises of the Modern Subject

“This book is a meditation on the ways in which sound both permeates life and mediates our experience of living. In distinct and poetic language, Kramer argues that the practice of meaning making is rooted in and swells out of sound.”—Nina Eidsheim, author of The Race of Sound: Listening, Timbre, and Vocality in African American Music

"The Hum of the World opens our ears to the primacy of sound. Dispelling the enduring myth that knowledge is inherently visual, it is a triumphant celebration of music and language as the forces that give shape to the world by dramatizing and interpreting its auditory substance. Kramer’s virtuosity as a prose writer reinforces this point: every sentence resonates with fresh understanding and aural acuity, gracefully voiced to the accompaniment of a discrete yet immense erudition. This book will change the way you listen to life." —Axel Englund, author of Still Songs: Music in and around the Poetry of Paul Celan