Noise. The History of Humanity. An Unusual Acoustic Journey Through Time and Space

What did the past sound like? What was the world like without cars, airplanes, and electricity? What did a person hear while walking the streets of a medieval city, or even in the era of the first civilizations, when the Earth was still so sparsely populated? — Historian, journalist, and musician Kai-Ove Kessler introduces us to the various sources of noise, both natural and related to progress and technological development, presenting the history of humanity from an unusual and captivating perspective. «The study of the history of noise presents one problem. Noises and sounds are fleeting and disappear without a trace. It was only at the end of the 19th century that the possibility of preserving and reproducing them emerged. To describe the sounds of previous eras, we must seek other sources: diaries, accounts of travelers, reports, ship logs, as well as paintings, drawings, sculptures, reliefs, measurement results, architectural plans, mechanical constructions, blueprints, psychoacoustic data, anatomical studies, and even archaeological finds… And now — let’s get going! Allow me to guide you through the pages of this multi-voiced history».