naught101 reviewed This Is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin
review
4 stars
Really great holistic exploration of music and it's neurology, psychology, and some sociology
322 pages
English language
Published Sept. 25, 2008 by Atlantic.
4 stars
(1 review)
This is the first book to offer a comprehensive explanation of how humans experience music and to unravel the mystery of our perennial love affair with it. Using musical examples from Bach to the Beatles, Levitin reveals the role of music in human evolution, shows how our musical preferences begin to form even before we are born and explains why music can offer such an emotional experience. Music is an obsession at the heart of human nature, even more fundamental to our species than language. In This Is Your Brain On Music Levitin offers nothing less than a new way to understand it, and its role in human life.