This is Your Brain on Music

This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession By Daniel J. Levitin (Plume Books)

In this bestselling ode to the science of music, neuroscientist/musicologist Daniel J. Levitin creates a newer, more walkable path between science and art. Using his knowledge of the brain, Levitin applies science to art in This is Your Brain on Music with the intention to enhance appreciation of it rather than to debunk its mysteries.

The key that unlocked Levitin's scientific mind, opening it up to the incalculable magic of music, turned out to be a pair of headphones his father bought him as a teenager. Using those headphones, Levitin first discovered the power of the stereo mix and was forever changed. Realizing that there was a science to a pleasing sonic mix, Levitin set out to bridge the gap between the science and art communities.

His fascination with the connections made in the human brain by sound only grew as he learned more about the subject, and his genuine enthusiasm for music is what carries the book. He refuses to demean the human aspect of sound, choosing to use it as a tool for exploration. Considering that the workings of the brain are still largely uncharted territory, it shares the same mysterious qualities that music has; both thoughts and sounds evade explanation.

This is Your Brain on Music is an essential tool for any music lover. Levitin uses simple analogies - he compares chord progressions to road trips and explains synapse firing as a form of choreography to walk the reader through the facts. He illuminates in a new way something we all feel: Music is an intrinsic and vital piece of human existence.

— Lavinia Jones Wright


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