The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century is a 2007 nonfiction book by the American music critic Alex Ross, first published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

[1] It recounts the history of European and American music, starting in 1900, and highlights many examples.

[8] The Rest is Noise was also on the New York Times list of the ten best books of 2007 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

The book was shortlisted for the 2008 Samuel Johnson Prize for nonfiction.

[9] On January/February 2008 issue of Bookmarks, the book received a (4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a summary saying, "Instead, Ross gauges the legacy of classical music-its shaping of jazz, swing, pop, rock, and hip-hop-in this compelling book".