This is your brain on music : understanding a human obsession Daniel Levitin

Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction: I love music and I love science : why would I want to mix the two? -- What is music? : from pitch to timbre -- Foot tapping : discerning rhythm, loudness, and harmony -- Behind the curtain : music and the mind machine -- Anticipation : what we expect from Liszt (and Ludacris) -- You know my name, look up the number : how we categorize music -- After dessert, Crick was still four seats away from me : music, emotion, and the reptilian brain -- What makes a musician? : expertise dissected -- My favorite things : why do we like the music we like? -- The music instinct : evolution's #1 hit

Whether you listen to Bach or Bono, music has a significant role in your life--even if you never realized it. Why does music evoke such powerful moods? The answers are at last becoming clear, thanks to revolutionary neuroscience and the emerging field of evolutionary psychology. Both a cutting-edge study and a tribute to the beauty of music itself, this book unravels a host of mysteries that affect everything from pop culture to our understanding of human nature, including: Are our musical preferences shaped in utero? Is there a cutoff point for acquiring new tastes in music? What do PET scans and MRIs reveal about the brain's response to music? Is musical pleasure different from other kinds of pleasure? Neuroscientist and former recording engineer Levitin explores music across cultures, brain disorders and developmental levels to unlock deep secrets about how nature and nurture forge a uniquely human obsession.--From publisher description