This work is a journey that traverses a variety of aesthetic approaches to making electronic music. Katharine Norman, herself a composer, writes from a highly personal and unusual perspective. The series of eight extended essays is a long way from conventional academic writing, and covers far more than the traditional repertoire. The essays are themselves literary compositions, whose structure, language and visual appearance are carefully constructed to amplify their theme - whether it be microsound or acousmatic art, electroacoustic or radiophonic music, plunderphonics, turntables or noise. In addition to this listening travel, these essays take illustrative byways through subjects as diverse as map-making, metaphors of flight, emblem books, the history of recording, translating and walks in the rain. The accompanying CD is a route map for the ears, providing a great number of examples by many different composers and artists.