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The Philosophy of... #21
The Philosophy of Vinyl
Vinyl is back! For some, it never really went away. But whether you are a life-long aficionado, a penitent former CD head or recent convert to the format, The Philosophy of Vinyl is a book aimed at enhancing your appreciation of the discs in your collection.
This book celebrates all the rituals of records: the sleeves, the sides played, all the rites of needles, fluff and cleaning cloths, and the smells of records and their covers.
Its pages include enough nuggets of technical information to satisfy hi-fi enthusiasts and plenty of quirky trivia on classic records, labels, recording studios, pressing plants and cover artwork to delight the novice record collector, and anyone filled with the nostalgia of a youth spent carefully turning the disc to play the other side.
It is a book that sends its readers back to their records with renewed love and affection, and hopefully inspires them to seek out new additions and find fresh ways to revel in their 45s, EPs, 12-inches and LPs as long as their turntables keep spinning, and the crackle of needle on vinyl ignites their senses.
This book celebrates all the rituals of records: the sleeves, the sides played, all the rites of needles, fluff and cleaning cloths, and the smells of records and their covers.
Its pages include enough nuggets of technical information to satisfy hi-fi enthusiasts and plenty of quirky trivia on classic records, labels, recording studios, pressing plants and cover artwork to delight the novice record collector, and anyone filled with the nostalgia of a youth spent carefully turning the disc to play the other side.
It is a book that sends its readers back to their records with renewed love and affection, and hopefully inspires them to seek out new additions and find fresh ways to revel in their 45s, EPs, 12-inches and LPs as long as their turntables keep spinning, and the crackle of needle on vinyl ignites their senses.
106 pages, Hardcover
First published September 8, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
October 30, 2026
The idea of the book was promising, but it fails to deliver on the vinyl perspective. It's more written about the music scene of the 50's to 70's and sure, it reflects on how the format evolved with the requirements, but it fails to go into any depth. The focus is so much on the single hits of the eras and not much about the vinyl itself.
The vinyl revival is hardly mentioned or discussed through even though it's a big part of the current philosophy of why vinyl still matters. Given that this is supposed to be about "the philosophy", it's weird how the ending of the book feels quite rushed after being bombarded about music facts of the olden eras for such a long time. Like finally getting to the beef of the subject, the "rise and fall of vinyl" is just mere two pages with a lot of focus on the sales numbers and music releases.
The book doesn't mention any hi-fi vinyl things, barely touches any players, nothing about how the vinyl player works (it's just about the jukebox point of view), manufacturing vinyl, analog source vs. digital, not much about why the digital age created the pull to have physical object, big art, booklets etc. It's just music anecdotes one after another where the different sections feel like they are just written separately like newspaper columns and put together as a book. Also as the book is mostly US centric with some UK artists mentioned, but not much about other parts of the world, nothing outside western music or even how western music travelled to the other parts of the world and had an influence.
Given that the book is just mere 100 pages long, it's a quick read, but I wish it had more to offer than the music facts and single hits of the 60's, the radio play of the singles and what tracks were on sides A and what on B... I wish the focus was more on the vinyl revival and where do we go from here.
The vinyl revival is hardly mentioned or discussed through even though it's a big part of the current philosophy of why vinyl still matters. Given that this is supposed to be about "the philosophy", it's weird how the ending of the book feels quite rushed after being bombarded about music facts of the olden eras for such a long time. Like finally getting to the beef of the subject, the "rise and fall of vinyl" is just mere two pages with a lot of focus on the sales numbers and music releases.
The book doesn't mention any hi-fi vinyl things, barely touches any players, nothing about how the vinyl player works (it's just about the jukebox point of view), manufacturing vinyl, analog source vs. digital, not much about why the digital age created the pull to have physical object, big art, booklets etc. It's just music anecdotes one after another where the different sections feel like they are just written separately like newspaper columns and put together as a book. Also as the book is mostly US centric with some UK artists mentioned, but not much about other parts of the world, nothing outside western music or even how western music travelled to the other parts of the world and had an influence.
Given that the book is just mere 100 pages long, it's a quick read, but I wish it had more to offer than the music facts and single hits of the 60's, the radio play of the singles and what tracks were on sides A and what on B... I wish the focus was more on the vinyl revival and where do we go from here.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review