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This Is Your Brain On Music | 
 enlarge | Author: Daniel Levitin
Publisher: Plume
Category: Book
List Price: CDN$ 18.50
Buy New: CDN$ 8.50
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Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 155
Media: Paperback
Edition: 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
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships from the USA. ALL ITEMS ARE BRAND NEW! Delivery takes from 10-14 Working Days.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Not worth your money May 16, 2008
EagerReader
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As a physics grad student and a music/guitar enthusiast, I would describe myself as perfectly belonging to the target audience of this book. I started reading with great enthusiasm and interest, but was I in for a surprise. I have read many lovely popular science books, but I wouldn't put this book on that list for several reasons.
First of all, this is the book with the biggest number of typos per page that I have ever read, and for me they are real eye-sores. Second, there is a lot of repetition of already stated ideas, in a very unnecessary and unhelpful way. My reading was very often interrupted by thoughts of the type "he already said this earlier, will he just move on to the subject?". If I, as a casual reader, notice so many obvious blunders that my reading is constantly interrupted, why didn't the author or editor find them before the book was published?
Third, name dropping. This has been mentioned time and time again in the negative reviews here, but I only read them after I became annoyed with the book myself and needed to find out if my book is from a bad batch or whatever is happening. I like hearing stories about famous people, but more often than not the way these were presented in the book amounted more to bragging by the author and a distraction from the story than anything else.
All in all, I got a lot of useful trivia from this book and there are parts that I enjoyed immensely. I felt I have to write a review because the author didn't do his basic job, and getting to the useful stuff was very tedious. It's not a book I would read 'over and over', as one gleaming review suggested. Look into it if it's in the library, but don't rush to spend money on it. In this spirit, I'm donating mine to the local library.
 The Rhythm of Hype January 17, 2008
C. Gilroy (Canada)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
I finished this book for two reasons: 1) It was a gift; 2) There was enough musical and neurological trivia scattered throughout to keep me hoping for some grand synthesis. But there I was on the last page, still anticipating something more-- fulfillment, if you will, of the majesty promised by the title, synopsis and scads of reviews. I admit I was pleased to see the author stick it to Stephen Pinker, but disappointed by the repetitive, name-dropping, self-conscious writing style. As a primer on some of the juicier bits of music theory and the human compulsions behind it, this text is more than adequate. However, if you already understand one central idea-- that music profoundly affects the brain because it's simultaneously aural, imaginative and kinetic-- then it's not likely you'll experience a shift in the arc of your thinking.
 With a song in our heads December 3, 2007
Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)
24 out of 26 found this review helpful
When a rock musician, a sound engineer and a neuroscientist combine their talents to explain how we think about music, it promises to be interesting. When those three individuals are present in one man who also writes well, the result is compelling. With a strong scientific foundation - no little of that from his own work - from which to build, coupled with his production experience, Levitin has launched a new phase in the understanding of how the mind deals with the outside world. In the manner of colours we think we see, sounds are simply vibrations of air until our brain identifies and translates them for us. Without descending into arcane terms for either the brain or music, he skilfully guides us through the process of "music appreciation" - and why we do.
Musicians enter our lives more intimately than almost anybody else. They can inspire us, influence our lives in innumerable ways, and they are available at any time - virtually at our command. We welcome their presence even when we haven't consciously sought them out. Music is always a personal relationship, sometimes very intense, generating emotions perhaps hidden or suppressed. How can the movement of air molecules generate such reactions in us?
In answering that question, Levitin takes the reader on describes the path sound takes from its entry into the ear. Nerve impulses from sound have a number of paths open to them. Widely dispersed areas of the brain process the signals, further triggering a variety of reactions. Much new information about sounds and the brain's reaction to them has come to light in recent years. When the sound is music, the brain actually goes through mathematical calculations to register timbre, pitch and other musical elements. Familiar music activates responses in the brain's temporal lobes, working with the hippocampus to retrieve memories and formulate new, integrated ones. Areas in the brain, particularly the cerebellum, display increased activity when listening to music, far less so when hearing simple or incoherent noise. Recent studies also point out the influence of the cerebellum in emotional response, a find challenging long-held views of that part of the brain's role. Music's generation of feelings is non-specific - we don't necessarily associate it with those around us. When we do take neighbours into account, it generally enhances the feelings - so long as those folks aren't interrupting our listening.
Lest the reader think all this neuroscience is lofty, obscure and "soul destroying" analysis, take heart. Levitin introduces his book with a discussion of "what music can teach us about the brain, what the brain can teach us about music - and what both can teach us about ourselves". The range of music he uses as examples is clear indication of the breadth of his interests and research. At one point, he visits John Pierce, the founder of "psycho-acoustics" who sought the six tunes best exemplifying rock and roll. The choices are illustrative, but Pierce proved more interested in how sound was manipulated by the performers than in the songs. Although the limits of the research preclude detailed analysis of classical pieces, Levitin examines Bach's flute cantatas to explain how variations in sounds stimulate emotional reactions. Mahler's music brought innovation to the symphonic format in ways that made his compositions particularly effective in evoking listener response.
Providing a wealth of information, this book is a treasure. You needn't be a musician or a critic to gain from it. Any listener, and all of us are that irrespective of our "taste" in music, will be impressed by what is going on in our minds when hearing music we adore or which repels us. In fact, even "new" music which may not attract us on first hearing it, can become another trigger for positive emotional response. Read this book and listen to it again. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
 Musicians are Made Not Born November 11, 2007
Bernie Koenig (London, Ontario Canada)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
As a philosopher and as a musician I loved this book. As a musician I found I could skim the opening chapters but his work on how the brain works when we hear music are excellent. His comparisons to brain functioning while listening to music to how we respond to language and emotion are also fascinating.
The chapter on What Makes a Musician was truly excellent. We need that 10, 000 hours of practice. Even if we have a genetic disposition to music, if we don't practice, we will not achieve anything. His discussion of Mozart in this chapter is really excellent. We call Mozart a genius because he wrote music at an early age. But as Levitin shows, that early music is just that. And as all music historians know, much of that early music was written under the tuteleage of his father, leopold, an acknowledged master music teacher.
I do have a few quibbles. As a philosopher he refers to the work of Paul Churchland. Levitin would have been better off had he gone directly to the prime influence on Chuchland, Wilfrid Sellars. Sellars also presents one of the most sophisticated discussions on category and concept formation.
And in his discussion of the evolutionary role of music, Levitin could have looked at studies done in the wild regarding language and music in apes. In Baboon Metaphysics, authors Cheney and Seyfarth show how complex language skills develop because of complex social relationships, and in The Singing Neanderthals, Steven Mithen provides a compelling argument showing that rhythm and other apsects of music were our earliest forms of language.
Indeed, these books taken together show just how related music and language are, and how important music is to all of us.
Music to my eyes... November 10, 2007
Othon Leon
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
A very interesting explanation on what makes music sooo attractive to the vast majority of us... the first two chapters are in my opinion, heavy to read (I had to go back several times to try and get the idea); actually, in this regard I found the first statements of the author a little bit contradictory, since as he somehow explains, science (technical facts) should be explained "easily"... well, it wasn't in my opinion for the most of the beginning. After that, the book gets much lighter, much friendlier and "simple" to understand.
The way -Daniel Levitin explains- how our brain rather than "concentrate" certain functions or types of information in particular parts of our brains (as it was thought), rather "distributes" them in several to be first accumulated and then processed between all of those (and others) I found new and fascinating. Also, the property that our brains have to adapt and learn new things (tricks!) is overwhelming too... (There's hope then!), contrary to the ancient believe that as we grow old, new knowledges are difficult to learn (assimilate). Then he explains how these and other characteristics add to make music sooo enjoyable... (it is possible to live without TV, but not without a radio!).
Good book. I'm glad I ordered it!
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