As he describes in lyrical, fervent passages, his penchant for spinning vinyl on cheap turntables would eventually become a love for elaborate equipment, amplifiers, speakers, and vacuum tubes. [A] paean to the power of music.

Hongo’s memoir mixes audiophile obsession and cultural history to provide a warm resonance of human relationships to recorded music and voices; will find an eager audience.

Hongo...recounts his life through his evolving love of music and his obsession with the audio equipment he lusted after in order to get the precise sound he desired. Fifteen years ago, he recalls, when a CD player broke, he asked a friend’s advice about getting a replacement.

Every so often something comes along that changes everything. In childhood, the new kid gets a yo-yo, you go to a drive-in and there’s pizza during the intermission, the Beatles are on Ed Sullivan, and your father finally fires up the Dynakit Stereo 70 he’s been building...

A recording from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, August 2018.