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The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It
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The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It Paperback - 2012

by Philip Ball


From the publisher

From Bach fugues to Indonesian gamelan, from nursery rhymes to rock, music has cast its light into every corner of human culture. But why music excites such deep passions, and how we make sense of musical sound at all, are questions that have until recently remained unanswered. Now in The Music Instinct, award-winning writer Philip Ball provides the first comprehensive, accessible survey of what is known--and still unknown--about how music works its magic, and why, as much as eating and sleeping, it seems indispensable to humanity. Deftly weaving together the latest findings in brain science with history, mathematics, and philosophy, The Music Instinct not only deepens our appreciation of the music we love, but shows that we would not be ourselves without it. The Sunday Times hailed it as "a wonderful account of why music matters," with Ball's "passion for music evident on every page."

Details

  • Title The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It
  • Author Philip Ball
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 464
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Oxford University Press, USA
  • Date 2012-07-01
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780199896424 / 0199896429
  • Weight 1.3 lbs (0.59 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.3 in (23.88 x 15.49 x 3.30 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Music - Philosophy and aesthetics, Music and science
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2010017795
  • Dewey Decimal Code 781.1

Media reviews

Citations

  • Books & Culture, 03/01/2013, Page 33

About the author


Philip Ball is a freelance writer and the author of numerous books, including Universe of Stone: A Biography of Chartres Cathedral and Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads To Another, which won the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books.
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The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It
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The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It

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The Music Instinct: How Music Works And Why We Can't Do Without It

The Music Instinct: How Music Works And Why We Can't Do Without It

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The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It

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The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It

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