THE WORLD IS LOUD – A History of Noise

Always loud, never quiet: the history of noise from the Big Bang to today.

How has noise developed in our civilisation over the centuries? What did Rome sound like in the days of the Roman Empire? What felt loud to a farmer in the Middle Ages? What levels of noise were the first factory workers in England subjected to?
The book begins long before human history, with the Big Bang – which wasn’t actually a bang at all. Only later, with the invention of tools, did noise become human. The first major building sites in history, 4,500 years ago in Ancient Egypt, were not only an incredible sight but also a deafening aural experience. The message that early humans took from nature was that noise is divine. And in Greek, Roman and Norse mythology, there is always at least one god responsible for thunder and noise. In the Middle Ages, the Church conquered the acoustic airspace of the whole of Christian Europe with the holy triad of bell, organ and cathedral.

In this cultural history, Kai-Ove Kessler comes to the conclusion that not everything was quieter in the past. That noise can even bring refreshment, relief and pure pleasure.