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

Levitin is a recording engineer turned scientist. In this book, he takes a comprehensive look at the science of music, from it's component level (pitch, beat, timbre, tone, etc.) to the neuroscience behind what is happening when we listen and play music (and how those with disorders such as

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Williams Syndrome and Autism show differing results) to the evolutionary benefits leading it's development in the human species.

Of these three major divisions in the book, I enjoyed the first part (musical definition) because of his anecdotal experience as a recording engineer. Levitin brings in samples from all music genres, from classical to the Beatles to the Ramones. The middle if the book discussed which parts of the brain are responsible for various elements of listening to and playing music. While some of this caused my eyes to glaze over, some of the revelations were interesting, particularly his assertion that we all become "expert listeners" to music by age 6, but developing musicianship skills can take a fair bit longer. He also discusses the 10,000-hour theory (that it takes 10,000 hours of doing a thing to become good enough to achieve greatness), suggesting that it more or less follows suit in music as in other artistic forms. Early on, Levitin discusses an episode from a visit to an African tribe, where the idea of passively listening to music was unheard of (everyone sings, everyone dances, everyone at least bangs a drum). Music was completely participatory, and they couldn't fathom it being any other way. At the end of the book, Levitin returns to this theme in postulating a theory on how music has evolutionary importance in the rise of the species, refuting claims by Steven Pinker that music was a useless parasite that developed on the back of language. Levitin trots out archeological evidence suggesting that music actually preceded spoken language by a fair bit, and then returns to the tribal example, claiming that such participatory music would be a display of virility. He then transposes the notion to modern times, where popular [male] musicians attract huge followings of the opposite sex willing to sleep with them...but these same women, by and large, are not interested in musicians for long-term relationships. This suggests that the genetic makeup embodied in a popular musician is a stronger attractant than more pragmatic considerations such as life-long stability. At some point in time, this must have been one and the same...as tribal dances are feats of endurance lasting hours, a primeval musician may have been showing his stamina that translated into prowess at the hunt, when a wounded animal might have been chased for sometime before it expired.

All in all, I think Levitin made a good case for the evolutionary benefits of music. It's been about 20 years since I've read Pinker's The Language Instinct, and I wonder if current evidence would have him reconsider his harsh stance.

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The interest that I held in This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession goes beyond the typical novel or non-fiction piece of work. When I picked it up at Barnes & Noble and read the inside flap, my hot damn! alert went off. When I read the Introduction, it may be safe to say that

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my heart palpitated. Since about the age of eight or so, I've been a music fan of abnormal proportions. Saying it was/is my "thing" is an understatement. I had over 2000 CDs until recently when I took them all digital and distributed the physical discs to friends, stores, and others. When I was teased with, "Levitin unravels the mystery of our perennial love affair with music", I was sold.

I'm pleased to say that This is Your Brain... far surpassed my expectations. It seemed that every page held something else for me to learn. I got a two chapter primer in music theory (so THAT'S how that works!). I got two or three chapters on the brain's reaction to music and how the two party together. This was followed by a chapter or two on what gives music the ability to trigger emotions. Finally, it closed with a chapter on music's role in human evolution.

Let's just say that if you love music, you should read the book. If you love science, you should read the book. If you love music and science, open another tab in your browser and order this thing NOW. As a fan of both, it hit the sweet spot for me.

Interestingly enough, it goes beyond just the music aspect though. In providing a context for most of the research that Levitin describes, he gives some other scientific tidbits that expanded my understanding of things such as the theory of evolution, the brain development of children, the evolution of dietary cravings, the adoption of spoken languages, etc. One such passage is, "Humans didn't evolve a liking for cheesecake, but we did evolve a liking for fats and sugars, which were in short supply during our evolutionary history. Humans evolved a neural mechanism that caused our reward centers to fire when eating sugars and fats because in the small quantities they were available, they were beneficial to our well being." While these passages weren't rocket science, when I came across them, I'd say - Now I know!

I'm a curious person who likes to make sense of things. It's fun for me to learn about how things became the way they are and how they tie together. When it comes to music and our connectedness to it, this book gets top marks. I have only one word for it - BRILLIANT.

It will be re-read on multiple occassions in the future.

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This book had the difficult task of addressing two subjects that are filled with jargon. I know music fairly well by now, so I know the difference between tone and timbre, between pitch and rhythm and musical line. On the other hand, I have a very basic understanding of neuroscience. Yes, I took a

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course in it including one on neuroethology which looked at songbirds neuro-patterns, but what I remember these days is is mostly just the basics. Levitin tries to give enough information for a true novice without boring the reader who is well-versed and he only succeeds to some extent. It's a difficult job, I'll give him that, but Stephen Hawking (or more precisely, his editor) did a better job of flitting from the basic to the esoteric, of changing levels often enough that you don't find yourself trapped in a chapter which is all below or all above your understanding.

Nonetheless there are many interesting points in this book. One that particularly sticks in my mind is that the timbre of an instrument (that quality that makes a clarinet and a flute sound different even if playing the note) is of course related to the design and material the instrument is made of, but it results in a different mix of overtones. For example, one instrument playing a C might have the third and the fifth prominent, while another the fourth. This alone makes instruments sound different enough that it was the basis of sound variations in the first synthesizers. Levitin definitely has a sound engineers mind, and he also has a broad array of knowledge about music. This allows him to draw examples from Bach to Led Zeppelin so any reader can pick out something with which they are familiar. The neuroscience was certainly beyond me at times, and I was frustrated that the author makes little difference between generally acknowledged studies and new studies which may or may not be accepted. Still, it was very interesting in parts and probably would appeal more to someone who knew both music and neuroscience equally well.

This book was interesting in places but suffered because it is written by a knowledgeable sound engineer and neuro-scientist -- not a writer. There are only rare instances where these two abilities are found in a single person, Oliver Sacks being the obvious one but there are a few others. I certainly appreciate Levitin's knowledge and it showed me a few things I didn't know, but I'll leave the science writing to more proven authors.

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Written by a music recording engineer turned neuroscientist, this book discusses the different ways we are impacted by the music we hear. He explains some basic music theory and shows us the scientific evidence that even nonmusicians are aware of changes in key, rhythm, melodic phrasing and

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harmonics. When we listen to music, our entire brains become active, from the oldest, "reptilian brain" cerebellum to the highest, most recently developed frontal cortex, and many areas in between. He argues that, contrary to some opinions, music is not useless consequence of human evolution. He takes the stand that music was a basic step in human development, perhaps even earlier than spoken language.

I found the book to be well-written. The scientific concepts are explained clearly and are easy to understand. The musical concepts were also presently clearly and with dozens of examples. I enjoyed it very much.

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A fairly readable overview of the basics of music and what we know about the brain’s response to music. It’s best at making the points that (1) we are all experts at listening to music, even if the formal vocabulary escapes us, and (2) the modern separation of music from movement has distracted

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us from the deep connection between the two—music comes from the body as well as the brain. Near the end he gallops pretty fast through the supposed evolutionary benefits of music, though this evo-psych stuff always has a just-so flavor for me so that’s always going to be the part I think makes the least sense. (For example, did you know that you can explain the role of music in human evolution solely in terms of how it helped prehistoric men win prehistoric women’s affections, demonstrating males’ ability to perform the complex motions required to hunt successfully and their ability to cooperate with others? This is totally why women can’t sing or play instruments, and why some kinds of music are nonetheless gendered female in modern culture! Is that what people mean when they say “trufax”? To be fair, Levitin is only responsible for the first sentence of this aside, but that first sentence is—without the awareness that some musical bodies are getting left out of the story except as choosers—not an unfair summary of his coverage of the topic.)

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I thoroughly enjoyed - and learned a lot from - this study of how music affects the human brain. The author's background as a musician and record producer who became a cognitive neuroscientist means that he is well placed to write about the intersection of music and the brain, and I also enjoyed

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the range of musical examples - from punk through classical - he uses. My only gripes are some annoying typos, and that the book is too short.

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Great book, really interesting especially if you are into science and music. This ties together two of my favorite subjects so I found this really interesting. It talks about why people like music. It also researchs how far back music really goes. The effects of music on the brain is the major

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topic in this book. Interesting book, but only if you already know a little bit about anatomy and physiology and music.

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Daniel Levitin is both a music professional and an academic, and this book is the perfect blend of his two careers. This is Your Brain on Music goes through many facets of how the brain processes music. This is a must read for anyone interested in why humans love music. Levitin covers music's

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emotional pull, physicality (why we dance), evolutionary role, and much much more. Levitin's own research has focused on how we remember pitch and tempo, and he shares his fascinating results and others throughout the book.

One thing to note: It is very hard to read this book without access to the musical examples he sites. Don't stray to far away from a well-stocked MP3 player or computer when you pick up this book.

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Incredibly disappointing. Not anywhere near as light as expected. Much more about neuroscience than about music at all - the author even goes on tangents that have nothing at all to do with music.

I really enjoyed this book. It got a little biographical at times, although I suppose that made it more readable. The explanations of how music fits into the brain and even the basics of music itself have really opened my eyes (and ears) to new things. Very glad I got through this one!

Superbly accessible, comprehensive, and written by someone who obviously knows his music. This book presents the latest understanding on music and the brain in a highly readable and engaging format; it's that rare thing, a science book which is a genuine page-turner. The only slight detractor would

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be the final chapter, which aruges against Steven Pinker's "music as cheesecake" hypothesis (that music simply excites neural structures which were already present for other reasons) - this is not totally convincing, and sounds a little like too much protestation. This is a very minor quibble, and does not diminish the rest of the work, which is lucid, comprehensive and well-reasoned.

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Almost bought this book on Audible several times. Decided to download the sample chapters on the Kindle and try it out. It has the wrong mixture of scholarly book/popular book.

Dense.

Dry.

Don't bother.

Daniel J. Levitin’s This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession is a fascinating study about what happens in the brain when we listen to music. Levitin, a neuroscientist and former session musician and producer, has crafted an excellent study that both scientists and lay readers

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whose grasp of science is somewhat limited will find informative.
Perhaps best of all, Levitin’s book doesn’t ruin the enjoyment of listening to music.

Levitin primarily takes a thematic approach in examining how the brain functions when listening to music. Although the first chapter, which explains the basics of music like pitch, timbre, meter, may be sow-going for the musically-challenged, the remaining chapters are enlightening. With topics including how the brain remembers and recalls music, why music can impact our moods, and why musical preferences can vary from person to person, Levitin explains the processes occurring in the brain without overwhelming the reader with overly-technical and academically-dry details.

Perhaps the most interesting chapter is the final one, which makes a case for the evolutionary origins of music, arguing against scientists who believe music was a happy accident or an unplanned byproduct of language development. Levitin shows how music may have played a role in human survival and evolution, including aiding in cognitive development, serving as a key factor in promoting early human interactions, and giving musical males an extra advantage in the grand reproductive race.

Written for non-experts who might not know the difference between a hippocampus and a hippopotamus, This Is Your Brain On Music successfully manages to explain how we listen to music without reducing music to a series of neurons and brain waves. Levitin writes in an intelligent but not overbearing or condescending tone; his passion for music is apparent throughout the book. An excellent integration of science and music, Levitin’s book examines the brain’s role in listening to and processing music without downplaying any of the emotions we experience when listening to music. I enjoyed the book, particularly the science of the brain and its relation to music.

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A good overview of some general mind concepts, applied to music. Also a good introduction to the structure of music. There are some great tidbits in the book, like needing 10,000 hours to be an expert at something, but overall the book wanders too much, especially into Levitin's personal history. I

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think the book could have been much shorter and more focused. The best concepts are pattern recognition, how we like/dislike complex music, music in evolution, and emotion. But overall it's hard to go back and bring out the best parts as the book isn't structured very well. Also, be prepared to try to remember/YouTube lots of classic rock, especially the Beatles, if you want to follow his references to songs.

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Levitin presents some interesting observations on the link between brain and music, but for my liking he spends too much time explaining introductory material.

If you ask someone if music is a big part of their life, he or she will most likely say yes. But why is that so? We know that music has been around since the dawn of humankind, but did we create music, or did music create us? Daniel Levitin is a neuroscientist and throughout the book he argues that

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we humans would not be who we are if it wasn’t for music, and he’ll prove this by both the scientific and physiological properties of music and the brain.

In this book, you’ll see the answers to these questions:

• What are the basic components of music including rhythm, pitch, and timbre?
• Why do certain emotions and memories are associated with music we like?
• How do teenagers get attached to music and how it all begins with before we are born?
• Does music really make you smarter? (aka The Mozart Effect)
• Why do songs get stuck in our head?
• How some abilities and disabilities like Absolute Pitch and Williams syndrome affect music?
• What does the cerebellum, the oldest part of the brain, have to do with music and how does it relate to reptiles?
• What makes a musician and how much practice does it take to be great?
• If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it makes a sound?
• How does human and animal courtship us music and other forms of creativity naturally.

Levitin explains everything in such a way that everything is crystal clear. His goal is to simplify things without oversimplifying. If you’ve always been curious of how music works, how it affects our brain, and why we like it so much, then read this book to discover what your brain is on music. You won’t be disappointed.

Rating: Four and a Half Stars **** ½

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