Third Ear
Reflections on the Art and Science of Listening
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
This illuminating book weaves personal stories of a multilingual upbringing with the latest scientific breakthroughs in interspecies communication to show how the skill of deep listening enhances our curiosity and empathy toward the world around us
Third Ear braids together personal narrative with scholarly inquiry to examine the power of listening to build interpersonal empathy and social transformation. A daughter of Holocaust survivors, Rosner shares stories from growing up in a home where six languages were spoken to interrogate how psychotherapy, neurolinguistics, and creativity can illuminate the complex ways we are impacted by the sounds and silences of others.
Drawing on expertise from journalists, podcasters, performers, translators, acoustic biologists, spiritual leaders, composers, and educators, this hybrid text moves fluidly along a spectrum from molecular to global to reveal how third-ear listening can be a collective means for increased understanding and connection to the natural world.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Elizabeth Rosner is a poet and novelist as well as a thoughtful essayist, and Third Ear is a brief impressionistic meditation on both the science of hearing and the art of listening. Structured like a memoir, the book begins with Rosner’s multilingual childhood as the daughter of European Holocaust survivors, then moves through her early years in Hebrew school—where she first discovers the spiritual nature of hearing—and on to the COVID era and its many losses. Rosner writes in a discursive, fragmentary style that moves swiftly from fascinating scientific facts to unusual personal behaviors (there are people called “podfasters” who deliberately listen to audio programming at three to four times regular speed despite it being proven that comprehension breaks down at 2x). Third Ear is a delightfully odd, endlessly entertaining reading experience that will have you examining how you listen to your world.
