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Description

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.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • EPUB 3.0
  • Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
  • WCAG level AA
  • WCAG v2.2 compliant
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

Hazards

The publication contains no hazards

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  • No accessibility features offered by the reading system, device or reading software are disabled or otherwise unusable with the product
  • Has alternative text descriptions for images

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Appearance of the text and page layout can be modified according to the capabilities of the reading system (font family and size, spaces, as well as color of background and text)

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  • Page list to go to pages from the print source version
  • Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
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Rich content

Language tagging provided

Table of Contents

1. Is This Thing On?
2. Testing, Testing
3. Hear Some Evil
4. You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet
5. Politics and War
6. So, This Isn't Really a Question...
7. Everyone Has a Podcast

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 02 Apr 2026
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 152
ISBN 9798765126028
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 7 bw illus
Series Object Lessons
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Ralph Jones

Ralph Jones is a freelance writer based in the UK…

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