This Is Your Brain on Music, Daniel J. Levitin
This Is Your Brain on Music, Daniel J. Levitin
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This Is Your Brain on Music
The Science of a Human Obsession

Author: Daniel J. Levitin

Narrator: Edward Herrmann

Abridged: 6 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 08/16/2007


Synopsis

What can music teach us about the brain? What can the brain teach us about music? And what can both teach us about ourselves?
 
In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin (The World in Six Songs and The Organized Mind) explores the connection between music—its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it—and the human brain. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, Levitin reveals:
 
• How composers produce some of the most pleasurable effects of listening to 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 teenagers, whether it was Fleetwood Mac, U2, or Dr. Dre
• That practice, rather than talent, is the driving force behind musical expertise
• How those insidious little jingles (called earworms) get stuck in our head
 
Taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin poses that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. A Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist, This is Your Brain on Music will attract readers of Oliver Sacks and David Byrne, as it is an unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature.

About The Author

Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, is a neuroscientist, cognitive psychologist, and bestselling author. He is Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at the Minerva Schools at KGI in San Francisco, a Distinguished Faculty Fellow in the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, and Professor Emeritus at McGill University. He is the author of This Is Your Brain on MusicThe World in Six Songs, and The Organized Mind. He divides his time between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.Edward Herrmann was an Emmy Award–winning and Tony Award–winning actor. His theater credits include The Philadelphia Story and Love Letters. His film and television credits include Intolerable CrueltyThe AviatorGilmore Girls, and The Practice. He passed away in December 2014.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Matthew on September 17, 2007

There's a lot of amazing stuff in this book to contemplate, but the author tries too hard to make it relevant for readers who listen to the Eagles and Mariah Carey (musicians he specifically sites), and he gets caught up in the most mundane details of his personal interactions with his colleagues at......more

Goodreads review by Sam on March 24, 2008

Seemingly for musicians or composers this book is more fitting a read for scientists and doctors. Not much content is musicianship related. Middle third is a bore. What I learned: - There is no sound in space (there are no molecules to vibrate) - Virtuosity comes from hours of practice (talent and abso......more

Goodreads review by Patricia on December 05, 2009

It wasn't until I was half-way through this book that things started to get really interesting. As a musician, the first half was like retaking Music 101, but I felt this was a book I need to read, so I plowed on. I am looking for answers to the questions: "Why, when I near any musical interval, my......more

Goodreads review by Pamela on February 23, 2008

I really despise myself for giving what should be an awesome book only 2 stars. I know I am mentally feeble, but was this ever dry!!! Interesting topic - neuroscience & music - but the author did go on at times (too much music theory, god I hated studying that and I'm a musician) and took the scient......more

Goodreads review by Kon on April 21, 2024

I had two questions I wanted answered. The first was, what makes music so enjoyable? The second is why we enjoy some music, but not others? This book didn't really give me satisfying answers to those questions. I don't want to blame the author, as I think he did a fine job in explaining a lot and gi......more


Quotes

“I know Dan to have a deep musical knowledge and strong intellect combined with a warm spirit and a big heart. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music . . . He is a fine writer and has the ability to make difficult concepts very clear.”—STEVIE WONDER


Awards

  • CINE Special Jury Prize for Arts and Culture
  • Quill Award
  • Rockie Award Nominee