Thinking with Sound

“Sound turned the world on its ear around 1900. Tkaczyk takes us to the primal scenes of modern thought—with an unheard-of twist. Charcot’s tuning fork and Freud’s hearing cap, Saussure’s gramophone and Ernst Mach’s concert halls, Carl Stumpf’s interference apparatus and Otto Abraham’s parrot all reverberate in this rich intellectual soundscape, explaining how these influential new fields of knowledge emerged in tandem with new auditory techniques for speech, music, and noise. Cutting joyously across disciplinary divides, this remarkable book shows how the modern humanities truly learned to ‘think with sound.’” * Alexander Rehding, Harvard University *
“Tkaczyk’s transformative Thinking with Sound shows how research on sound was central to the formation of modern human sciences in Europe and North America at the turn of the last century. Tkaczyk offers an ambitious and polymathic history, one that spans disciplines, languages, and nations. Thinking with Sound is a major step forward in the intellectual history of sound and charts a new path in the history of the humanities. It is also an inspiring book for anyone interested in new approaches to the history of knowledge.” * Jonathan Sterne, author of 'Diminished Faculties: A Political Phenomenology of Impairment' and 'MP3: The Meaning of a Format' *
“As wide-ranging as it is erudite, Thinking with Sound remaps our historical understanding of the dynamic connections between bodies and minds at the turn of the twentieth century, and it demonstrates resoundingly the significance of the ear in linking the two realms. An indispensable contribution to understanding the disciplinary character of knowledge construction, Tkaczyk’s work, like that of the scholars she studies, also demonstrates convincingly the intellectual riches to be found at the porous boundaries between disciplines, where science, medicine, technology, the humanities, and the arts all come together.” * Emily Thompson, author of 'The Soundscape of Modernity' *
"Thinking with Sound is intellectual history as a persistent ear worm that refuses to be laid to rest. . .  it offers a transferable lesson in how an open nexus of disciplines can spawn new ways to understand what it means to be a sentient human. . ." * Leonardo Reviews *
"Tkaczyk looks beyond the sensation of hearing to its utility for scholars in their early explorations of the mind-sound connection. Using lively and informative case studies of these early scientists and humanists, she traces how early auditory and neuroanatomical studies of the auditory cortex drove many conceptualizations about sound, particularly early neuroscience theories." -- J. F. Andrews * Choice *
"Tkaczyk masterfully guides the reader through a moment at the turn of the twentieth century when the sciences and humanities became deeply preoccupied with processes of auditory perception and cognition. . . . the book also offers a historical imaginary for a boldly and self-aware inter-disciplinary field of sound studies. To 'think with sound', this book suggests, one can be both firmly embedded in the humanities and social sciences while critically engaging with developments in the sciences and technological engineering." * Journal of Sonic Studies *
"Thinking with Sound combines microhistorical case studies with macrohistorical insights into processes of knowledge formation at the intersection of modern scientific disciplines. It points to new directions in the history of humanities and will be of interest to anyone concerned with the relationships between science, technology, and society more generally. Tkaczyk’s careful and very detailed examination of an impressive collection of German and French, as well as English, primary sources will become a stepping stone for further research into sonic cultures in other lingual and cultural contexts of the time." * Technology & Culture *
"Tkacyck sets out an impressive vision of an important subject. . . . The book does an excellent job showing the personal, institutional and intellectual networks that formed the basis for this interdisciplinary research on sound." * Social History of Medicine *
"In Thinking with Sound, Victoria Tkaczyk takes us on an exciting journey through the intellectual reception of auditory neuroscience from 1860 to 1930." * British Journal for the History of Science *