This Is Your Brain on Music

The Science of a Human Obsession

By: Daniel J. Levitin

Narrated by: Edward Herrmann

Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music - its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it - and 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.

©2007 Daniel J. Levitin (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. and Books on Tape. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Levitin's snappy prose and relaxed style quickly win one over and will leave readers thinking about the contents of their iPods in an entirely new way." ( Publishers Weekly)
"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)

Fascinating!

Absolutely fascinating explication of how the brain and auditory systems process music. Highly recommend this book!

Can't wait to listen again!

Having the author play the parts he's explaining is so helpful & his voice is so easy to listen to!

I expect to learn volumes after every listen.

Intricate Reading

I advice a core group of musicians and people whose livelihood depend on music to view this book as compulsory. Orchestral composers and conductors, program directors and any student of music all should add this book to their cart and buy it NOW! The information this book contains is simply too foundational and new to pass up.

As a critique of the book, there are two general ways in which I perceive this book. First, it is a very intricate review of how our brains process music. I have a general interest in the neurology of psychology and Daniel Levitin proves to be very informative, thus making his book interesting to me. On the flip side of this (my second perception), the presentation is dry. It reminds me of the book "Getting to Yes" (Fisher, Ury & Patton) in that it is good information delivered in nearly monolithically by a narrator. I feel like I am having information downloaded into my thinking brain while my emotional brain is ignoring everything said. Where as Stephen Covey's "The 8th Habit" is read by Stephen Covey, himself, with complete sincerity and from his heart, "This is Your Brain on Music" is tough to listen to considering the intricate details and monotone narrator.

Last, considering the topic, music, I think Levitin had a perfect opportunity to go much further using this audio book as a tool. While there are simple examples of music to support points that Levintin is making, not once when he mentions an actual song does he then play the actual recording of the song on the audio tape. Yes, there are legal recording ownership rights that Levintin would have to negotiate in order to play song recordings on this audio book, but it would have enhanced the book tremendously. Additionally, when speaking about tone and tambour, examples rapidly inserted at the referenced points in the book would have helped. To be fair, I should mention that I am the executive producer of a radio program; I am sensitive to these quality issues.

A VERY COOL WELL WRITTEN LISTEN

Im sorry to say that this book is even better than Oliver Sack's book on the same topic(Im a big fan of Sacks) , though both are worthy reads. Music has a profound physiological effect on us. We all know this to be the case but until now we had no concrete understanding of the hows and why's.

Levitin does a great job relating the mystery and latest scientific probings of this remarkable and profound element in all our lives. Its a fascinating listen, learning whats behind the strange power music has on all of us. Its very rewarding to know what weve learned but also peeks our interest in what revelations are just around the corner.

I think part of the reason music effects us so profoundly is it communicates to that huge yet hidden subconscious part of our minds where we think without and beyond language. Excellent narration and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Bought this book

I found this book elsewhere on the Internet for free, but I liked it so much that I bought the book on Audible at the retail price. This book was meant to be on audio. If you want to know how your mind process music, you have to listen to this book. It's an awesome title. I loved the first listened and can't wait to read it again, this time in higher bitrate.

Too many vocabulary words in music

The intro is what hooked me. Chapter 1 was incredibly wordy & technical. I hoped the next chapter would get back to the Intro. Nope. Then entire book, I felt like I had to draw a flow chart of vocab words just to follow along. I had a very difficult time staying focused on theis book.

Recommended!

Great discussion about how music affects your brain, scientific, yet everything is in layman's terms. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thumbs up.

Porque disfrutamos la musica?

Los conceptos emitidos por el autor nos aclaran como nuestro cerebro procesa la música y como reaccionamos ante este crucial modificador de nuestro ánimo.

great read for the musician and music lover

this was a great audio book for both the musician, and music lover alike. learning different psychological aspects music, and the effects it has on on our brains.

Neuroscience for the right brain

If you have an interest in how the brain works, and you like music, you'll enjoy this book. The author gives some great vocabulary to the lay person to help to describe music in precise terms without getting too technical. The book walks through the interaction between music and the brain functions and explores some of the ideas that are current in musico-neurophysiology. He spends the last chapter or so of the book on the evolutionary basis of music-brain interaction, which seems out of place in an otherwise cohesive study.