The Science of a Human Obsession - This Is Your Brain on Music

I ordered this item with the store Prime, and it was here in two days flat, no problem! The book was in good condition, brand new, though the cover bent faster than I thought it would. Oh well, it happens to books.

The book itself is well written and I would recommend it to any friend who has an interest in either neurology or music. Good work on the book!

The author was a musician/producer before he was a neuroscientist. If you want a review of basic acoustics and music theory, leading to resonance with the word "obsession" in the title, this book is for you. i.e., There is a "polyphony" in good popular "edge" science books, woven of information and the joy of creativity. This is your brain realizing t has more possible connections than "the number of particles in the entire known universe." (p.92 in my paperback).

They recently started offering a Biology of Music class at my college, and this was the required text. Wasn't sure what the level of this book would be, but it is very good and is difficult to put down. Levitin writes it in a way that even non-musicians can easily understand. Being a musician, this has opened up a whole different world of interest for me, because I have never studied the brain and the musical effects. Great Book! and EASY TO READ

I am a board certififed music therapist and bought this book in preparation for a talk I was giving on music and the brain to a neuroscience class at a university. It was an easy read and very interesting and well done. It lead me to different studies to share in my talk. Would definitely recommend to musicians, music therapists, scientists and people who enjoy music.

very interesting and explains a lot to the average person like myself who knows nothing about music except what i like and don't like.
it even explains why certain music will make people feel deleriously happy.

The discussion is thorough and yet very accessible. He brings a unique set of skills and experiences to the topic. He winds you through the brain pointing out the important structures and processes much as a tour guide taking you through London. The important connections that music has in our lives take on even more meaning and enjoyment when accompanied by this new knowledge. I recommend it highly for those interested in understanding our physiologic and psychologic connection with music.

A fascinating book by an author whose unusual background gave him the unique capacity not only to acquire an extensive knowledge of both music and neuroscience, but also to craft a compelling narrative for the rest of us. His careful exposition of these very complex subjects gives us the ability to comprehend and appreciate their interaction - to see each in a new light.

After reading Music, The Brain, And Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination I started this book. They are both different and complementary views on music and the brain/mind. Great reads. They changed the way I think of, hear, and play music. Very inspiring!

Along with a lot of information about the brain's functioning in relation to music, there is much insider information from a professional sound engineer and a real music lover. I listened to a lot of music commented on in this book, learned new stuff and payed attention to many interesting details.

I absolutely love this book. It discusses all the parts of music that I have ever wondered about (being a musician myself.) I enjoyed this book so much because it's easy to read but also extremely engaging. David Levitin is so brilliant and intuitive. It's like having someone type out my exact thoughts and put them in a book.

Some new information is presented but not enough. Much of the content is background. The author annoyingly includes the names of his sources in context and refers to them all as old friends of his which they probably are but it was not interesting to this reader. All those names should have been in footnotes. He also presents endless illustrative examples from popular music most of which were unnecessary and not helpful for those unfamiliar with the tunes.
Most of the material was at a low level of sophistication did find the discussions of neural inter connectivity, and evolutionary psychology worth the read

I absolutely love this book. It discusses all the parts of music that I have ever wondered about (being a musician myself.) I enjoyed this book so much because it's easy to read but also extremely engaging. David Levitin is so brilliant and intuitive. It's like having someone type out my exact thoughts and put them in a book.

Some new information is presented but not enough. Much of the content is background. The author annoyingly includes the names of his sources in context and refers to them all as old friends of his which they probably are but it was not interesting to this reader. All those names should have been in footnotes. He also presents endless illustrative examples from popular music most of which were unnecessary and not helpful for those unfamiliar with the tunes.
Most of the material was at a low level of sophistication did find the discussions of neural inter connectivity, and evolutionary psychology worth the read

This book was recommended to me by my friend, brother and band mate before recording our current album. It has given us a lot of food for thought, the least of which being forsaking A440. Why would we do this? Read this book and see!

I am very excited to read this book. My boyfriend currenly has it and i have yet to read it but i look forward to. It sounds very interesting. I took band in highschool and really miss learning about music etc. How can you not enjoy music.

This is an excellent book written smoothly and entertainingly by a man overwhelmingly qualified to do the work. You wouldn't think a simultaneous summary of music theory and brain function would be so engaging, but there it is.

Let me first say that I enjoyed reading this book. It helped me better understand both music and neuroscience. Music's influence on us is a fascinating and powerful subject.

That having been said, however, I do need to make at least one criticism. Levitin's evolutionary explanation for the development of music is egregiously one-sided. He suggests, with others, that music may be an outward demonstration of intelligence and physical prowess - look at me, I can afford to waste all this time and energy - akin to the male peacock's tail. THIS IS ALL WELL AND GOOD FOR MALES, BUT WHAT ABOUT FEMALES!? I read not one sentence in Levitin's book explaining what evolutionary theory would have to say about female singing. I'm willing to accept adaptive explanations for many things.. but in this case Levitin does little to ward off the inevitable criticism that his book features a number of very half-based "just so" stories.

I taught a course called "Sound, Music and Noise" for a number of years and did some psychophysical research on the perception of music. Thus, following a review in the Boston Globe of "This Is Your Brain on Music", I hoped that this book would further my understanding of how our mind perceives music. This book did not meet my expectations. There was very little information that furthered my understanding of the perception of music. Yes, Levitin did talk about sections of the brain that are involved and how techniques are improving, but this book seems as if it was written as a promise of further work yet to be done and much speculation, rather than many definitive answers. I was put off by several glaring errors in the first chapter ("What is Music?"), such as on pp. 28-29 Levitin says " One of the several notes we call A has a frequency of 55 Hz and all the other notes called A have frequencies that are two, three, four, five (or half) times this frequency." He should have said two, four, eight (etc.) times that frequency. If there are such errors in the section where I have some expertise, what errors might lurk where I don't have the knowledge to detect them? I was also put off by what seemed to be his ego trip about how many famous people he had met and how many pieces of music he knew.

While a science background is helpful, and a music background is very helpful, I doubt nonscientists or nonmusicians would have trouble with this book. The subject is fascinating, and the book is well laid out. It has a fair bit of the usual evolutionistic mythology, but most of the subject matter is factual.

I'm not an avid reader, generally speaking, but the subject matter of this book piqued my interest and I couldn't put it down. I've never read a book cover-to-cover so fast. Levitin writes clearly, intelligently and in a way that gets the reader to think critically and mentally apply the concepts to one's experiences. I found it so fascinating that I went right out and purchased his follow-up: The World In Six Songs (not as good, but still enjoyable). Suffice to say, this is one of the best books I've ever read (as few as that number may be).