A Great Book for Music Lovers
Recently, I started listening to an audiobook by Daniel J Levitin titled "This is Your Brain on Music." I felt hooked from the very first few sentences where the author recalls his first experience with listening to recorded music. I could definitely relate to the experience as I love music and I love the emotions that listening to music brings.
The author presents the basic concepts of music theory in a way that anyone can understand. The audiobook even goes as far as to provide illustration to the concepts that are presented. For example, when the author talks about a scale, we can hear an actual scale played. When the author talks about the timbre of different guitars, we are presented with recordings of three distinct instruments. It really adds to the learning experience!
But the book is not only about music. It is also about how our brain works. What processes lead to our perception of music. What parts of the brain are engaged when we run, when we talk, or when we play an instrument.
This book answers some interesting questions like:
- Why can music be more enjoyable than sex?
- How do our brains perceive music?
- Does music serve an evolutionary purpose?
- Is there really such a thing as talent?
- How the Beatles record sponsored the invention of Computer Tomography?
The audiobook is available on Audible as well as Scribd. In both cases, you can get it for free if you sign up for the trial. You can also check your local library or order from Amazon.
If all you have is fifteen minutes, you can try the Blinkist summary. But I encourage you to go for the full version. It's 6 hours long, but it's well worth it!
I'm curious if you'll love this book as much as I did!
And speaking of music, you may also like my article "What Prevents You From Listening to Quality Music?" It focuses on how music listening diminishes and what can we do about it.
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