This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of Human Obsession | 
| Manufacturer: Dutton
Category: EBooks
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $5.01 (33%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  101 reviews
Sales Rank: 302
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Dewey Decimal Number: 781.11
ASIN: B000PC0SDW
Publication Date: March 29, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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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 96 more reviews...
 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.
 great, a revelation June 24, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
As a professional musician and a medical doctor, I must say it is the best book on music - in all its facets - that I've ever read.
Amazing facts from a uniquely well-informed expert June 21, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The author is very experienced in both the relevant science, and the real music industry. I have a strong sense that he knows what he's talking about and is highly credible. The writing style is excellent. There were all kinds of facts in here that ranged from novel to amazing. This really does tell you important things about how psychoacoustics works, and has a lot of ideas and speculations (it's hard to prove) about the meaning and function of music in the human experience. I've been recommending this one to lots of my friends.
On the whole, not worthwhile June 8, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Like many of the negative reviewers, I found that *This Is Your Brain on Music* didn't enhance either my knowledge of music or of cognitive science. It's not without any substance, but that substance has been spread pretty thinly, and it offers one of the weakest evolutionary explanations for music as a human phenomenon: it demonstrates fitness because it indicates abundant amounts of free time. Perhaps this is true of the drive to perform, but what about the millions of people addicted to listening to music? Isn't music in some way *special* ? No one gets a painting "stuck in their head" for days as happens with music, and there doesn't seem to be a visual corollary to those stroke victims who can no longer speak--but who can still sing. To be sure, Levitin doesn't seem particularly interested in this, but this is part of the problem with the book. I also have to agree with reviewers that felt the book was disorganized and not compellingly written, but I never found Levitin to be particularly egocentric--I think he's making the case that he's well-qualified to discuss both the brain and music. Unfortunately, he doesn't convincingly do either, and the book's most memorable element is probably the title.
Very interesting May 25, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am a musician and although I have not yet finished the book it has captivated me and helped me realize why I am the way I am and maybe why others are the way they are as far as music choices. God made us incredible!
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