This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession: Daniel J. Levitin: 9780452288522: Amazon.com: Books
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Daniel J. Levitin
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This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession Paperback – August 28, 2007
by Daniel J. Levitin (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 551 ratings
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Endlessly stimulating, a marvelous overview, and one which only a deeply musical 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.”—David Byrne, founder of Talking Heads and author of How Music Works
“Levitin is a deft and patient explainer of the basics for the non-scientist as well as the non-musician....By tracing music's deep ties to memory, Levitin helps quantify some of music's magic without breaking its spell.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Why human beings make and enjoy music is, in Levitin's telling, a delicious story.”—Salon.com
“Dr. Levitin is an unusually deft interpreter full of striking scientific trivia.”—The New York Times
“Every musician, at whatever level of skill, should read this book.”—Howie Klein, former president, Sire and Reprise/Warner Brothers Records
“Levitin’s lucid explanation of why music is important to us is essential reading for creative musicians and scholars. I've been waiting for years for a book like this.”—Jon Appleton, composer and professor of Music, Dartmouth College and Stanford University, inventor of the Synclavier synthesizer
About the Author
Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D., is the New York Times bestselling author of This Is Your Brain on Music, The World in Six Songs, The Organized Mind, and Weaponized Lies. His work has been translated into 21 languages. An award-winning scientist and teacher, he is Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at the Minerva Schools at KGI, a Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, and the James McGill Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Music at McGill University, Montreal, where he also holds appointments in the Program in Behavioural Neuroscience, The School of Computer Science, and the Faculty of Education. Before becoming a neuroscientist, he worked as a session musician, sound engineer, and record producer working with artists such as Stevie Wonder and Blue Oyster Cult. He has published extensively in scientific journals as well as music magazines such as Grammy and Billboard. Recent musical performances include playing guitar and saxophone with Sting, Bobby McFerrin, Rosanne Cash, David Byrne, Cris Williamson, Victor Wooten, and Rodney Crowell.
Product details
Paperback: 322 pages
Publisher: Plume/Penguin; Reprint edition (August 28, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780452288522
ISBN-13: 978-0452288522
ASIN: 0452288525
Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.8 x 8 inches
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Biography
Daniel J. Levitin is Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at the Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) in California. He is also the James McGill Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Music at McGill University, Montreal. "This Is Your Brain on Music" , "The World in Six Songs", "The Organized Mind" and "A Field Guide to Lies" (republished in paperback as "Weaponized Lies") were all #1 best-sellers. His work has been translated into 22 languages. Before becoming a neuroscientist, he worked as a session musician, sound engineer, and record producer, contributing to records by Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, and Blue Oyster Cult. He has published extensively in scientific journals as well as music magazines such as Grammy and Billboard. Recent musical performances include playing guitar and saxophone with Sting, Bobby McFerrin, Rosanne Cash, David Byrne, Cris Williamson, Victor Wooten, and Rodney Crowell.
Customer reviews
4.3 out of 5 stars
Top Reviews
Ralph Jacobus Gilliam
4.0 out of 5 stars Quite a fun and interesting read. Really a thought-provoker.Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2015
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A lot of people are hating on this book, and it tends to be people who are either highly opinionated, went in exacting some revolutionary read, or are allegedly more educated than the author.
This a fantastic book, if for nothing more than it gets you interested in wanting to read more. The author, much like modern astrophysicists like C. Sagan and L. Krauss might describe space ("billions and billions..."), has quite a way with words. He embeds in the reader a sense of wonder, and of amazement, at the magic that happens when you listen to music. If you're an audiophile who does not have an over inflated view of yourself and has a generally open mind about music, then this book is for you. I am not educated in this field whatsoever, and I found the analogies, comparisons, and even the really "dense" material very enticing and interesting.
I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the statements and claims the author makes because I am not educated in this field. He could be completely wrong and pushing his own agenda (although it's a little hard to arrive at that conclusion unless you have some sort of raging superiority complex). But that kind of conversation, which fills many of the lower rated reviews, is missing the point.
The language, the examples, the ranges of simple description to complicated extrapolation, it is all nourishing. These are interesting things to think about. And for a layman like myself, the point is not to be right, but to be interested. After reading this book, I don't care if he's right (although I doubt his inaccuracies, if any, surmount to much). I just care that he made me think about music in a new and interesting way.
And for the average reader like myself, that is all you should want from a book like this.
84 people found this helpful
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Susan Goewey
5.0 out of 5 stars Good substitute for the music theory class I never took & great inspiration to play piano tooReviewed in the United States on February 21, 2019
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I recently started music therapy for my son with autism and this book explains why I think it is so good for him. Autism means "splinter skills" and sometimes I am surprised at what he can (and, sadly, can't do). When he was much younger he was good at math, almost grade level until he suffered a concussion. But I feel music therapy is bringing back some of that pattern recognition and decoding and he has begun to be able to read musical notes to play piano and change chords on the ukulele. It is so joyful and this book inspires me to help him practice more in between biweekly sessions with a trained therapist.
Music therapy gives me new hope that he can still learn and grow even after his academic progress has stalled.
The author has such an interesting background music combined with neuroscience. I loved his other book too entitled "The Organized Mind" ... Dan Levitin has a way of making me feel completely normal that my brain feels often on the verge of exploding as it tries to cope with modern life.... I love how the author EXPLAINS why playing/practicing music/listening to music clapping hands to a good rhythm, singing in unison, watching a familiar old musical or a newer one like La la Land is so helpful
(relaxing, energizing, calming, whatever mood I seek, there's a song for it. this book is full of interesting music trivia and he uses great examples of familiar songs so you immediately get his points on how songs are written and why we like some more than others, get some stuck in our heads and others are nails on chalkboard based on our own tastes/experiences ... so interesting how the "younger generation" has been rebelling against parents but also rediscovering and enjoying prior generations' music as well.
A great read that literally plays music in your head. An Ode to Joy.
16 people found this helpful
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Lee by the Sea
5.0 out of 5 stars A fine, readable intro to music and the brain.Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2017
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This is sn excellent, well-written book on a topic that deserves more attention—the interaction between human brains and music, as informed by science. This is the most current book on this topic as I write. The second-most-recent book is 20 years older, and at the present rate of advance in brain science, that is a long time. Other reviewers have complained that the author drops too many names. I disagree. His first career, before he went back to school and got his Ph.D, was as a recording engineer. It is not name-dropping when you know famed singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell on a first-name basis, have discussed musical details of recording her while doing it, and then have later interviewed her about relevant topics in this book. This is by no means the only such useful example this unusual writer provides. The book does have an uneven feel to it in some spots, because it slows down to take you, like a fly on the wall, to unexpected places, but these are worth going to. I happen to know the science of some of what Levitin discusses, as I worked in computer speech recognition for five years, built two labs, and have a couple of published papers from that work. On what I know, Levitin is spot-on accurate. He also provides thorough notes and references if you want to dig deeper. But he also is a very good explainer, which I really appreciated when he discussed music. All in all this is a fine introduction. If it has any weakness, it is that he does not try to organize and categorize as much as he could have, but he WILL keep you reading!
36 people found this helpful
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Jack
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and valuableReviewed in the United States on August 8, 2015
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This is a great book. I read it 3 times in the first week that I had it. It is gripping and interesting, and remarkably jargon-free. Some of my non-musical friends who borrowed it said that they did not enjoy it and that it was too complicated for them to understand. I have some music theory education which was helpful for understanding the book, but Levitin makes it possible for non-musicians to appreciate the book too. With that being said, it is not written for children. There is a long, complicated part of the book which focuses intensely on the neuroscience part. I found it interesting and easy enough to understand as I am interested in neuroscience and have spent many hours educating myself about it on the internet. Most of my friends did not find this part engaging. I recommend this book to musicians, neuroscientists, and anyone who finds the human mind interesting.
34 people found this helpful
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3.0 out of 5 stars A science based book should use the correct format for citations.Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 17, 2018
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Generally a well written book which helps to explain some of the terminology often found in music theory along with the current scientific knowledge related to the cognition of music and why these algorithms evolved. However, whilst this book does contain a 'Bibliographic notes' section at the end of the book, since this is a science (research based) book, citations should be used in the relevant place to back up statements of fact. Whilst reading this book I found myself reading a statement.e.g. The scientific research suggests some "thing" with no reference to the actual research that discovered this 'thing'. Whilst this a book and not a scientific paper, other scientific books (e.g. Richard Dawkins) do a excellent job of using citations within the text. Scientific books that do not correctly cite there 'facts' are more likely to include the authors own subjective biases.
6 people found this helpful
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Ishora
5.0 out of 5 stars Full of wow momentsReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2017
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Can't put this down. Answering so many questions I had. Very easy to read, not highbrow but well researched. A must for any music lover. No, I will rephrase that because we are all music lovers. A must if you want to understand how it all works.
8 people found this helpful
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Judith Haire
5.0 out of 5 stars I've only just begun to LIVEReviewed in the United Kingdom on August 17, 2015
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For a variety of reasons I have only just finished reading Daniel Levitin's Book. I started to read it in 2009.
As a survivor of SIX treatments of Electro-Convulsive Therapy I can tell you that Daniel has given me reason to believe in myself and provided me with the knowledge that confirms me in my belief that I never did have a mental illness, was never "schizoid affective" mad bad, genetically malformed or, indeed have any of the other stigmatising conditions that various doctors, psychiatrists and other well meaning mental health professionals have tried to fob me off with over the past few decades
If you've been through the revolving doors of the NHS or been a client in the psychiatric therapy "system" and if you are like me. a simple soul searching for the TRUTH, then this book will be of real interest to you.
http://www.judithhaire.wordpress.com
6 people found this helpful
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Gamla
5.0 out of 5 stars Music and the brain seems to be a fascinating subjectReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2018
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It's early days but am learning a lot about music. Today I learned that the octave is a fundamental concept in all cultures even when scales are totally arbitrary. Any sequence of notes can become a scale. Also that unlike colours each note of the scale is correspondingly mapped in the brain.
I'm taking this book slowly and hopefully methodically.
3 people found this helpful
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omagon
3.0 out of 5 stars Worth a lookReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 22, 2018
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Got to grips with most of the important bits (I am a musician). The name dropping is seriously irritating. Too many 'ifs', 'probably's' and 'mights'. A shorter, tighter version would be more satisfying.
5 people found this helpful
