Preserving the emotional history of our lives and of our species, from its very beginning music was also allied to dance, as the structure of the brain confirms developing this neurological observation, Levitin shows how music and dance enabled the social bonding and friendship necessary for human culture and society to evolve.īlending cutting-edge scientific findings with his own sometimes hilarious experiences as a musician and music-industry professional, Levitin's sweeping study also incorporates wisdom gleaned from interviews with icons ranging from Sting and Paul Simon to Joni Mitchell, Willie Nelson, and David Byrne, along with classical musicians and conductors, historians, anthropologists, and evolutionary biologists.

Now he showcases his daring theory of six songs, a illuminating how the brain evolved to play and listen to music in six fundamental forms for knowledge, friendship, ceremony, joy, comfort, and love. The author of the New York Times bestseller (six weeks and counting) and Los Angeles Times Book Award Nominee This Is Your Brain on Music (more than 170,000 copies in print), tunes us in to six evolutionary musical forms that provide a window into the human soul.Īn unprecedented blend of science and art, Daniel Levitin's debut, This Is Your Brain on Music, delighted readers with an exuberant guide to the neural impulses behind those songs that make our heart swell.

Daniel levitin the world in six songs