The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature - Softcover

Daniel J. Levitin

3.71

2,920 ratings by Goodreads

9781845134778: The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184513477X ISBN 13: 9781845134778

Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd, 2009

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In his enthralling and revelatory "This is Your Brain on Music", Daniel Levitin unpicked the pathways of the brain to reveal how human beings have been hard-wired for music.Now, in an astonishing blend of art and science, he unveils his revolutionary theory of 'Six Songs', and describes how music played a pivotal role in the creation of human culture and society.Dividing the sum total of human musical achievement, from Beethoven to The Beatles, Busta Rhymes to Bach, into just six fundamental forms, Levitin illuminates, through songs of friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion and love, how music has been instrumental in the evolution of language, thought and culture. And how, far from being a bit of a song and dance, music is at the core of what it means to be human.A one-time record producer, now a leading neuroscientist, Levitin has composed a catchy and startlingly ambitious narrative that weaves together Darwin and Dionne Warwick, memoir and biology, anthropology and a jukebox of anecdote to create nothing less than the 'soundtrack of civilisation'."The World in Six Songs" will change the way you listen to music forever.It is the eagerly anticipated follow up to the bestselling "This is Your Brain on Music" (HB 9781843547150 and PB 9781843547167). The scientific understanding of music has captured the reading public's imagination, as shown by the success of "The Rest is Noise" (9781841154756) and "Musicophilia" (9780330418379).

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Review:

Music seems to have an almost wilful, evasive quality, defying simple explanation, so that the more we find out, the more there is to know, leaving its power and mystery intact, however much we may dig and delve. Daniel's book is an eloquent and poetic exploration of this paradox. --Sting

This is the worst idea for a book I've ever heard - it makes me want to vomit. The idea encapsulates the very worst part of Western thought.' 'I take it back - I'm sorry! This is great!' --Joni Mitchell

About the Author:

Daniel Levitin is the James McGill Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at McGill University. Before entering academia he worked as a session musician, sound engineer and record producer. He lives in Montreal, Canada.

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