Ebook: Personal Stereo

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Personal Stereo takes us back to a time when a handheld device was both a marvel and a danger. Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow illuminates how personal stereos like Sony's Walkman changed forever public space and boring tasks, and shows how the initial reception of portable cassette players can help us put our hopes and fears about today's devices into perspective. Brimming with stories of audio technology, public space, personal affect, and global economy, Tuhus-Dubrow's study ranges over an intricate landscape of semiotic and cultural touch points that together make the personal stereo an iconic piece of postmodern equipment.

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.