A collection of essays on energies, sounds, and science in cultural theory and the arts from a major figure in the development of sound studies.

Acclaimed historian and theorist Douglas Kahn presents new and previously published work examining the relationship between experience and the arts, experience and science. These essays propose new ways to think about the world ecologically, and to understand a range of writers, composers, and artists, grounding philosophical ideas in personal experiences.

Big ideas on climate, politics, and justice are connected to fleeting or focused autobiographical passages: metaphorical and experiential limits of lightning are held up against the author's experience of listening to lightning static on a transistor radio with his daughter; later, the author's account of creating "Reagan Speaks for Himself," an audio artwork comprised of a mashup of Reagan speaking, is held up against domestic and international politics. These personal experiences are raised, but only as occasions to discuss larger issues in-depth, or to provide an example close at hand.

Kahn introduces provocative but rigorously researched and inventive concepts, from "ecopath" - the ecological equivalent of the psychopath and sociopath - to a tale of the reverse Icarus, a victim of the sun's collapse. In turns inviting, gruesome, and humorous, this collection is a tribute to the experience of life on Earth.