(no, don't click to look inside. The photo was copped from Amazon.ca)
This book has been around for some time, but I just read it this past summer. I had long wanted to read it, as I'm a classical music addict, and had always rather wondered why listening to some music (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Faure, to name but a few) made me feel as though I had died and gone to heaven. The book contained many interesting nuggets (such as esplainin' why 80's music sounds the way it does--yes, there's a reason, and even someone to blame for it!) but on the whole, it was a bit disappointing. I often felt lost in his professional jargon (I'm sure other brainiacs in his line of research thought it was a thrill ride), but I found it occasionally boring and technical. I guess when you read something by a professor who studies brain physiology and evolutionary psychology, you can't always expect the sublime. Instead, the "science" of your brain on music pretty much boiled down to why groupies want to **** Mick Jagger. Ah, the Baby Boom generation. You gotta tolerate them...for a few more decades at least.
Meanwhile, on a slightly related note, here's a worthwhile read. Not written by a Baby Boomer. John Paul II's
Letter to Artists. Yes, he wrote one.
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