This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession

US: Plume/Penguin, 2007. Paperback. Fair. In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscienti st Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music--its performance , its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it--and the human brai n. Taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an e volutionary accident, Levitin poses that music is fundamental to our specie s, perhaps even more so than language. Drawing on the latest research and o n musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, he r eveals: • How composers produce some of the most pleasurable effects of listening t o music by exploiting the way our brains make sense of the world • Why we are so emotionally attached to the music we listened to as teenage rs, whether it was Fleetwood Mac, U2, or Dr. Dre • That practice, rather than talent, is the driving force behind musical ex pertise • How those insidious little jingles (called earworms) get stuck in our hea d A Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist, This Is Your Brain on Music will a ttract readers of Oliver Sacks and David Byrne, as it is an unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature. Editorial Reviews Review "Endlessly stimulating, a marvelous overview, and one which only a deeply m usical neuroscientist could give....An important book."--Oliver Sacks, M.D. "I loved reading that listening to music coordinates more disparate parts of the brain than almost anything else - and playing music uses even more! Despite illuminating a lot of what goes on, this book doesn't 'spoil' enjoyment--it only deepens the beautiful mystery that is music.