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Hillel Schwartz, author of Making Noise: From Babel to the Big Bang and Beyond, and David Hendy, writer and presenter of the recent BBC R4 series Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening, discuss the centrality of noise to life.


With: David Hendy, Hillel Schwartz

Why do we think that noises have colours? How loud is too loud? And when did the “silent deeps” become cacophonous and galaxies begin to swim in a sea of cosmic noise? “Never has so much clarity accompanied so much noise”, said Douglas Kahn about Hillel Schwartz’s book. He’s one of America’s most innovative cultural historians, building histories from details. Attending to a surround of sounds at once physical and political, he will discuss with the acclaimed broadcaster and author David Hendy (who wrote and presented the recent BBC R4 series, Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening) about the centrality of noise throughout human history.

In association with Bristol Festival of Ideas