The World in Six Songs

How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature

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Summary

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' .

Reviews

A fantastic ride
New Scientist

About the author

Daniel Levitin

Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, is a neuroscientist, cognitive psychologist, and bestselling author. He trained at Stanford University Medical School, The University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Oregon. He is founding dean of Arts and Humanities at the Minerva Schools at KGI in San Francisco and Professor Emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at McGill University. He is the author of This Is Your Brain on Music, The World in Six Songs, The Organized Mind, and A Field Guide to Lies and Statistics. He divides his time between Montreal and California.

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