Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow's book,
Personal Stereo (
Bloomsbury Academic, 2017) , which is part of the
Object Lessons series, offers a compelling and expertly researched study of the Sony Walkman, taking into account the device's controversial origin story, the seismic cultural impact on society in the 1980s, the worries of diminishing social interactions, and the philosophical implications of listening to music within one's own private bubble. All this is channeled through a personal nostalgic affection for the device.
Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow is a writer-in-residence at the University of California, Irvine. Her writing has appeared in
Slate, The Nation,
The New York Times Book Review, the
Los Angeles Review of Books, and
Dissent, where she is a contributing editor. She was previously a contributing writer for the
Boston Globe's Ideas section, a columnist for the urban affairs website
Next City, and a Journalism and Media Fellow at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.
Stephen Lee Naish is a writer and author of several books on the subjects of film and popular culture. He lives in Ontario, Canada. Follow him on Twitter @riffsandmeaning.