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Reflections on the Art and Science of Listening
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.
"A book packed with perceptions and revelations. Science and art meet in this eloquent study of the aural world around us." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[A] lyrical blend of memoir and science ... This soothes the soul." —Publishers Weekly
"To masterfully blend memoir with science writing is to create one of the most compelling kinds of book—one whose insights are both cerebral and emotional." —Lit Hub
"A lively, perceptive book about how and what we hear." —Los Angeles Times
"Pay attention. That's the core message of the Berkeley writer's brisk, collage-like book, a blend of memoir, her interviews with attentive people from various professions and findings from scientific studies ... This book exudes an irresistible brand of eagerness—for knowledge, for the perspectives of strangers, for tomorrow and the day after. As quoted by Rosner, a scientist who works with endangered elephants says the animals 'need more people to care about them.' Caring, in Rosner's appealing formulation, is indistinguishable from listening." —San Francisco Chronicle
"Deep listening found here. Connecting our collective soundscape with her own, Rosner reveals a spirit and depth of insight few have shown in this realm. Listen to just one of her paragraphs and your future footfalls will never sound the same." —Edie Meidav, author of Another Love Discourse and Lola, California
"There is a world of knowledge of listening floating around us, in sound and on the page. No one has connected these stories to their own life and memories better than Elizabeth Rosner. I thought I knew this material after years of swimming in it, but she has revealed depths of sonic purpose through the unique connections she draws. This is a rare and profound book." —David Rothenberg, author of Whale Music and Secret Sounds of Ponds
"Elizabeth Rosner's Third Ear should be required for the entire human race. Rosner is one of the greatest writers and thinkers of our time—with insight into this century's difficult socio-political and ethical questions. With clarity and intimacy, Rosner renders a sonic universe in which reciprocity connects all of life through deep listening. We are one small part of a large, delicate ecosystem—from the soil bioacoustics to the toxic pesticides we use, from the extinction of different species to the threat of our own. Third Ear gives us a second chance to look inside ourselves and find something human in us." —E. J. Koh, author of The Liberators and The Magical Language of Others
This information about Third Ear was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Elizabeth Rosner grew up in Schenectady, New York as the daughter of Jewish holocaust survivors. Her father, who was born in Hamburg, Germany, was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp, while her mother survived the war by hiding in the Polish countryside. Ms. Rosner's writing reflects her efforts to come to terms with the impact of her parents' experiences on her own life - the indelible imprints of their history on her language, her identity, and her imagination.
Now living in Berkeley, California, Ms. Rosner is a full-time writer, having been an instructor of creative writing and composition at the college level for eighteen years. She is a graduate of Stanford University, the MFA Program at U.C. Irvine, and the University of Queensland in Australia. She has traveled extensively, ...
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