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This Is Your Brain on Music

The Science of a Human Obsession

Author Daniel J. Levitin
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Paperback
$20.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Dutton
On sale Aug 28, 2007 | 352 Pages | 9780452288522
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In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music—its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it—and the human brain.

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. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, he 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

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.
This Is Your Brain On MusicIntroduction
I Love Music and I Love Science—Why Would I Want to Mix the Two?

1. What Is Music?
From Pitch to Timbre

2. Foot Tapping
Discerning Rhythm, Loudness, and Harmony

3. Behind the Curtain
Music and the Mind Machine

4. Anticipation
What We Expect from Liszt (and Ludacris)

5. You Know My Name, Look Up the Number
How We Categorize Music

6. After Dessert, Crick Was Still Four Seats Away from Me
Music, Emotion, and the Reptilian Brain

7. What Makes a Musician?
Expertise Dissected

8. My Favorite Things
Why Do We Like the Music We Like?

9. The Music Instinct
Evolution's #1 Hit

Appendices
Bibliographic Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

  • WINNER
    CINE Special Jury Prize for Arts and Culture
  • WINNER
    Quill Award
  • WINNER
    Rockie Award Nominee
DANIEL J. LEVITIN is the New York Times bestselling author of This Is Your Brain on Music, The World in Six Songs, The Organized Mind, Successful Aging, and the international bestseller A Field Guide to Lies.  Levitin is James McGill Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Neuroscience and Music at McGill University, and Founding Dean of Minerva University in San Francisco. He is also a musician and composer who has worked with artists including Roseanne Cash, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, and Joni Mitchell, and has been awarded seventeen gold and platinum records. He divides his time between Montreal and California. View titles by Daniel J. Levitin

About

In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music—its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it—and the human brain.

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. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, he 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

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.

Table of Contents

This Is Your Brain On MusicIntroduction
I Love Music and I Love Science—Why Would I Want to Mix the Two?

1. What Is Music?
From Pitch to Timbre

2. Foot Tapping
Discerning Rhythm, Loudness, and Harmony

3. Behind the Curtain
Music and the Mind Machine

4. Anticipation
What We Expect from Liszt (and Ludacris)

5. You Know My Name, Look Up the Number
How We Categorize Music

6. After Dessert, Crick Was Still Four Seats Away from Me
Music, Emotion, and the Reptilian Brain

7. What Makes a Musician?
Expertise Dissected

8. My Favorite Things
Why Do We Like the Music We Like?

9. The Music Instinct
Evolution's #1 Hit

Appendices
Bibliographic Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

Awards

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

Author

DANIEL J. LEVITIN is the New York Times bestselling author of This Is Your Brain on Music, The World in Six Songs, The Organized Mind, Successful Aging, and the international bestseller A Field Guide to Lies.  Levitin is James McGill Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Neuroscience and Music at McGill University, and Founding Dean of Minerva University in San Francisco. He is also a musician and composer who has worked with artists including Roseanne Cash, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, and Joni Mitchell, and has been awarded seventeen gold and platinum records. He divides his time between Montreal and California. View titles by Daniel J. Levitin

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