This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession | 
| Author: Daniel J. Levitin
Publisher: Plume/Penguin
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $8.02
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Avg. Customer Rating:  105 reviews
Sales Rank: 596
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 322
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0452288525
Dewey Decimal Number: 781.11
EAN: 9780452288522
ASIN: 0452288525
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between musicits performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy itand 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 heads
And, taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin argues that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. This Is Your Brain on Music is an unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 100 more reviews...
 A different perspective August 18, 2008
In the first chapter, he made some statements about music that I know to be wrong, so I was tempted to quit, but I thought that perhaps he may still have something interesting to say--I think of the difference between a "satellite view" map and a "street view" map. He has had many interesting things to say, and I am even suspicious that his "errors" at the beginning were an intentional simplification. Even though written for the "layman," it's still pretty heavy reading--and much more focused on the brain's processes than on how music works.
A bit heavy on name-dropping (he started out as a producer), and more "don't know what's happening here" than I hoped for (but I appreciate the honesty). Interesting--but perhaps specialized: it could easily be a different book than you're expecting.
 One of the best books you can find on the science of music! August 1, 2008
This book was found, as many of my great finds, on the shelves of a used-book store. The book has traveled around in my car with me as I go from school to my job as a voice teacher. It has been loaned out to music professors, and is now very well worn.
I strongly recommend this book for musicians and music lovers alike. It is beautifully written in a way that nearly anyone can understand, with common examples of music from classical to popular music styles.
An excellent introduction into the technical side of how the brain processes music.
Great Book July 29, 2008
The story about Petr Janata and the barn owls is worth the price of the book alone.
Thanks for a great resource Mr. Levitin.
Thought provoking, but with obvious flaws July 23, 2008
One can't expect a thorough look into the interplay of phychology, mind-body mechanics, and music in a shory popular book. That being said, this was an entertaining romp through the field.
The first seventy or so pages was essentially an introduction to music theory and how the mind can proces music as, well, music. For those with a music background it will be tedious and won't tell you much that you don't already know, but for someone who has only touched on it it will be like drinking from a firehose with all the information in the pages.
The rest of the book deals more directly with why certain music is liked, how it most likely evolfved, and the practical utility of music in society and individual survival. If you're ever wondering why there are still oldies stations around, it's because of all the boomers who have an emotional attachment to music of their youth, the time when music tastes are most aggressively defined.
One annoyance was the infantile critique of mind-body interplay, where he ascribes to the opinion of Dennitt that the brain creates the mind. There's not enough room in the review to state why that is incorrect, but it shouldn't have even delved on this weighty topic. Overall though, there wasn't much blanket overgeneralization that plagues many popular science books, though the meanderings of the authors was at times tiring.
Overall, pretty good, and a quick read for someone interested in the topic.
 Irritating June 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I, too, found the endless name-dropping endlessly irritating. As to the rest - I leave it to the more knowledgeable among us. However, I do recommend reading ALL the reviews before reading the book.
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