The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.65 (909 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0452295483 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 384 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-04-03 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
The World in Six Songs, by Daniel Levitin A2900 This is an enjoyable, very interesting and thought-provoking book by someone who knows music from both the commercial/industry and scientific sides. Levitin advances a number of ideas, based largely on science, but which really amount to conjecture -- he doesn't posit them, but he repeats them often enough that it is clear that he really believes them. I found a number of these ideas to be plausible but not necessarily convincing. This is not a. "How Joni Mitchell and Pete Seeger Created Human Nature" according to Amazon Customer. Daniel J. Levitin, a former record executive turned neuroscientist, pals around with David Byrne, Sting, Joni Mitchell and other celebrities in a book whose purpose is to define the six architypal songs of the human race. The chapters are titled for one of the six types, with an additional chapter for love songs. The content of each chapter is a haphazard collection of autobiographical anecdotes, interviews, evidence from anthropology, and exam. Not much of a sequal Amazon Customer I loved Levitin's first book "This is Your Brain on Music". The "name-dropper" claim from some reviewers was unfair, because scientists instinctively cite every idea that was not original to them (I would know, I am one). Levitin clearly loves his new career and wants to share his enthusiasm with a wider audience.However, this book is thin on content and full of annoyances that most readers will catch. For example, he waxes nostalgically about
He shows, in effect, how these “six songs” work in our brains to preserve the emotional history of our lives and species.Dr. Now in his second New York Times bestseller, his genius for combining science and art reveals how music shaped humanity across cultures and throughout history.Here he identifies six fundamental song functions or types—friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love—then shows how each in its own way has enabled the social bonding necessary for human culture and society to evolve. The World in Six Songs is, ultimately, a revolution in our understanding of how human nature evolved—right up to the iPod.. Levitin combines cutting-edge scientific research from his music cognition lab at McGill University and work in an array of related fields; his own sometimes hilarious experiences in the music business; and illuminating interviews with musicians such as Sting and David Byrne, as well as conductors, anthropologists, and evolutionary biologists. Levitin's astounding debut bestseller, This Is Your Brain on Music, enthralled and delighted readers as it transformed our understanding of h
(Aug.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. In this rewarding though often repetitious study by bestselling author Levitin (This Is Your Brain on Music), a rock musician turned neuroscientist, argues that music is a core element of human identity, paving the way for language, cooperative work projects and the recording of our lives and history. Some may find Levitin's evolutionary explanations reductionist, but he lightens the science with personal anecdotes and chats with Sting and others, offering an intriguing explanation for the power of music in our lives as individuals and as a society. He cites lyrics ranging from the songs of Johnny Cash to work songs, which, he says, promote feelings