This is the story of a search for a cortical map of auditory space. The search began with a study that was reported in the first issue of the Journal of Neuroscience (Middlebrooks and Pettigrew, 1981, 1:107-120.). That paper described some unexpected features of spatial sensitivity in the auditory cortex while failing to demonstrate the expected map. In the ensuing 40 years, we have encountered: panoramic spatial coding by single neurons; a rich variety of response patterns that are unmasked in the absence of general anesthesia; sharpening of spatial sensitivity when an animal is engaged in a listening task; and reorganization of spatial sensitivity in the presence of competing sounds. We have not encountered a map, but not through lack of trying. On the basis of years of negative results by our group and others, and positive results that are inconsistent with static point-to-point topography, we are confident in concluding that there just ain’t no map. Instead, we have come to appreciate the highly dynami...