This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel J Levitin 2006 322pages pub: Plume (Penguin)
"In this undprecedented meeting of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J Leviting explores the connection between music--its performances, its compostion, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it--and the human brain. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart, Ella Fitzgerald, and U2 to Schoenberg, Metallica and 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' Leviten reveals:
-how composers exploit the way our brains make sense of the world
-why we emotionally attach to music we listen to as teenagers
-why 10,000 hours of practice--not talent--makes virtuosos
-how insidious jingles (aka earworms) get stuck in our heads
Taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin argues that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. This Is Your Brain On Music is an ear-opening, mind-blowing investigation into an obsession at the center of human nature."
The Soloist by Steve Lopez 2008 273pages pub: Putnam
"A newspaper columnist discovers a musical prodigy among cast-offs on Skid Row, and a story unfolds like a concerto with layers of unlikely, interconnected strains. The Soloist is an intimate protrait of mental illness, of atrocious social neglect, and the struggle to resurrect a fallen prodigy. It is also a powerful story of one journalist's search for the meaning of his own craft, for the nature of sympathy and respect"
-Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down
The Essential Canon of Classical Music by David Dubal 2001 770pages pub: North Point Press
An impressive collection of biographies of classical composers. Well written.
The Art of Practicing by Madeline Bruser 1997 271pages pub: Bell Tower
What to Listen For in Music by Aaron Copland 1939, 1957, 1999 pub: Signet
Classical Music for Dummies by David Pogue and Scott Speck 1997 354pages pub: IDG Books
Very informative, funny and entertaining. Highly recommended.
Mozart: A Life by Maynard Solomon 1995 640pages pub: HarperPerennial
Exhaustive and engrossing biography. Don't let the size of the book intimidate you.
The Inner Game of Music by Barry Green with W Timothy Gallwey 1986 225pages pub: Doubleday