A history of the walkman and a picture of that era (1980s) when portable music was still a novelty. Now we have iPads and iPods and Smartphones, but back then they were a groundbreaking technology. And how they succeeded by removing features. Well worth the read.

Roy Amara was the president of the Institute for the Future. A scientist and researcher his most famous legacy is Amara’s Law, the idea that the impact of technology tends to be overestimated in the short term and underestimated in the long term. The story of the invention and proliferation of the personal stereo is a perfect example of this theory in practice. It is a story that has been told many times in print, though perhaps never as readably as Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow’s warm, accessible account. The real success of this presentation is the way Tuhus-Dubrow manages to convey the bewitching novelty of the portability of music, something that is now difficult to imagine as not being a feature of everyday life, but which at the time was a genuinely revelatory experience. Appropriately, the analogy of a drug is used throughout the book, the personal stereo, after all had the power to changes users perception of the world, it was a deeply personal experience and highly addictive. Keeping with Amara’s theory, the immediate reaction from some was one of panic, often regarded as a dangerous fad, there were fears that the Walkman could be responsible for a range of societal catastrophes from generational deafness to the decline of western civilisation from a dangerous proliferation of individualism. Fast forward 35 years and the capacity of portable entertainment has increased exponentially from 120 minutes of audio to whole libraries of music, film and reading material.

Though often told as a simple story, that of Sony co-founder Masaru Ibuka’s desire to listen to music without disturbing his family, in reality the invention of the personal stereo is far more complicated, contradictory and non-linear. Tuhus-Dubrow nimbly navigates the contradictions – Sony themselves endorsed multiple versions of the story of how the Walkman was invented – as well as the multiple players, including interviewing Andreas Pavel who is credited with inventing a personal stereo system that pre-dates Sony’s Walkman. It’s very much a social constructionist approach to technology, one that also acknowledges non-linear progression. The personal stereo involved no new technology and in fact involved removing functionality from existing products, so despite being a new product, the innovative element was in how technology was used, not created.

Personal Stereo, part of the Object Lessons series, is immensely readable, fast moving and well structured. Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow’s voice is distinctive and one gets a sense of her personality and individual relationship with the personal stereo through the way she tells the story without it ever being obtrusive or indulgent. An object lesson in how to write about technology well.

Original concept and engrossing balance between history and modern day.

I grew up on the Sony Walkman, and its various successors. At first a bit of a novelty, portable music is now the first thing I pack on a business trip, and I would rather leave home without my lucky necktie than live without music.

Along the way, access to this technology has changed the way society works. The norms for social interaction have been modified, to where behavior that at one time would have been considered anti-social or rude is now generally accepted.

Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow attempts to capture that transition, and explain its consequences.


=== The Good Stuff ===

* The book is easy to read. It is relatively short, and I ended up breezing through it in a couple of hours.

* Tuhus-Dubrow begins by examining the technology behind the Walkman, although this is a brief discussion-along with mention of some of the follow-on technologies. Most of the book concentrates on the social implications of walking around with our ears plugged. As the book points out, expectations of random conversations with strangers have changed, as have a listener’s ability to filter out the world and exist solely within their own private environment.

* The author touches on a wide variety of topics and consequences. City pedestrians cut off from audio stimulus may be more relaxed, but they are also more at risk of being struck by an unnoticed vehicle. Depending on how it is used, portable music may limit conversation between both strangers and close friends or family.

* One of the more interesting items the book hints at is the vision of Sony Chairman Akio Morita. For starters, it is amazing that a device which became a smash sensation in America (and later, elsewhere) was conceived of by a man born and raised in Japan. The genius of Morita was to understand American culture almost better than Americans themselves, and have the courage to drag Sony to create the Walkman-even when most of the company thought it a stupid idea.

* The text is reasonably well referenced-at least enough to make the reader feel comfortable that he is just not reading one person’s opinions.


=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* The text can get a bit repetitive, going over the same points numerous times without adding any additional information or observation.

* The Walkman has now been around in one form or another for nearly 40 years. It would seem that during that time there should have been formal studies of the long-term benefits and consequences of its use. Sure, we talk less, and we certainly miss some audio stimulus from our surroundings. But have humans been more productive and relaxed because they can now listen to Bach on a long flight rather than the baby in 29A screaming? While there was a lot of anecdotal information on this in the book, there were few hard and verifiable facts.

* The author shifts topics, and doesn’t really develop a thesis. Rather it becomes a list of observations about human behavior (some more thoroughly researched and defended than others). But I missed a simple, defended viewpoint. Are portable stereos good for us or not. And what about their cousin, the smart phone which does everything the portable audio player did, just now for a couple more of the human senses.



=== Summary ===

I was hoping for a more in-depth study, and some conclusions about the topic. Unfortunately, I didn’t find a lot in the book that I either didn’t know already (such as the Akio Morita story), or thing I couldn’t have determined myself by just watching fellow travelers at the airport. In short, I wanted the book to be three times as long as it was, and ten times more detailed. Or to put it another way, maybe this just wasn’t a good topic, or a limited enough one. for a 25,000 word essay.

How much is there to be said about the Sony Walkman and its imitators? More than you might think! Once we've absorbed the interesting history of the invention of the personal stereo (and the controversy over who invented it), there's the even more fascinating discussion of how it changed the way we listen to music (and to books). The transformation of listening to music from a social activity to a deeply personal and even a private one is worth considering. The iPod and other mp3 players merely changed the equipment we use to listen (as well as add the capability to record that the Walkman lacked). Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow uses contemporary sources (such as ads) as well as her personal experiences to put the Walkman into context as a forerunner of the smartphone. Short and sweet!

(Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Academic for a digital review copy.)

I was unfamiliar with the Object Lessons series but couldn't resist the nostalgia of the Walkman illustration on the cover. I'm so delighted to have the opportunity to review this book via an advance copy provided by Bloomsbury Academic via NetGalley. The series focuses on a single object, and briefly investigates the history and cultural impact of the object. I find it fascinating, as the objects are ubiquitous items that we don't give a second thought beyond their general use.

The personal stereo examined in this book is the cassette player, generally known as the Walkman. The study is both academic and nostalgic, using published research and history, as well as personal memories from individuals. I am young enough to not really remember a time before the Walkman existed, but old enough to remember when they were either too expensive or generally frowned upon by my parents and I coveted the Walkman for quite a long time before my grandparents finally granted my Christmas wish and gave me my first one. It was magical. Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow taps into that magic by sharing early advertisements and quotes from early adopters of the technology, but also shows the dark clouds forming by the critics. She also does a great job of comparing the utilization of SmartPhones today with the benefits and concerns of the Walkman during the height of it's popularity. There are similarities and differences in ways you probably never thought of.

I enjoyed this brief work of nonfiction and will make it a point to seek out more books and essays from this series.