Microphone

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Ralph Jones (Freelance Writer, UK) Dr. Christopher Schaberg (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)

Microphone

Name: Microphone
Price: 19.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9798765126011

Ralph Jones (Freelance Writer, UK), Dr. Christopher Schaberg (Washington University in St. Louis, USA), Professor Ian Bogost (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)

$19.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Bloomsbury Academic
14 May 2026

Communication studies; Semiotics & semiology; Philosophy: aesthetics; Impact of science & technology on society

Series: Object Lessons

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Since its invention more than 150 years ago, the microphone transformed the world in an instant. Yet its evolution and integration into our daily lives has been comparatively gradual – so gradual, crucially, that it is easy to forget just how much we take it for granted. Every phone has a microphone. Every laptop has a microphone. We are surrounded by microphones.

The microphone wields enormous power. But when we're ‘on mic’ we aren't just powerful, we're vulnerable. Microphones can destroy careers as quickly as make them. The microphone is inextricable from our need to be heard. This book takes a curious, always humorous look at this object as a metaphor for power and how the fulfillment of our desire to be heard has created a multi-headed beast we are still learning how to tame.

By: Ralph Jones (Freelance Writer UK)
Series edited by: Dr. Christopher Schaberg (Washington University in St. Louis USA), Professor Ian Bogost (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 165mm, Width: 121mm,
ISBN: 9798765126011
Series: Object Lessons
Pages: 152
Publication Date: 14 May 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Is This Thing On? Testing, Testing Performance Politics Secrecy and Vulnerability So, This Isn't Really a Question... Everyone Has a Podcast Index

Ralph Jones is a journalist and comedy writer based in the UK who has written for publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Wired, Sunday Times Magazine, Vice, Esquire, and GQ.

Reviews for Microphone

Breezy, informative, and thought-provoking, Ralph Jones's meditation on the microphone explores how this late-19th century invention (and its partner, the amplifier) has affected what, where, and how we hear, every day of our lives. * Samuel Brylawski, American Discography of Historical Recordings *