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In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between musicits performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy itand the human brain. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, Levitin reveals:

How composers produce some of the most pleasurable effects of listening to music by exploiting the way our brains make sense of the world

Why we are so emotionally attached to the music we listened to as teenagers, whether it was Fleetwood Mac, U2, or Dr. Dre

That practice, rather than talent, is the driving force behind musical expertise

How those insidious little jingles (called earworms ) get stuck in our heads

And, 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 unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature.

作者簡介

丹尼爾．列維廷 Daniel J. Levitin

專業音樂人,成長於1970年代搖滾狂飆的加州。出身中產階級家庭,母親所彈奏的蕭邦與舒曼是他對音樂最初的記憶,然而丹尼爾卻在大學時代為組搖滾樂團而輟學。在音樂界浮沉數年後,丹尼爾闖出一番成績,擔任史提夫．汪達、死之華樂團、藍牡蠣樂團的唱片製作人、錄音師,更與史汀、大衛．拜恩同台共演。

三十歲後帶著對音樂的熱情重返學界,現為加拿大麥基爾大學心理學教授,主持音樂感知與知覺研究實驗室,致力探究音樂如何引發情感,以及人類如何記憶、再現音樂,他的實驗室也是妃絲特、巴比．麥菲林等音樂人的朝聖地。丹尼爾堅持以真實音樂取代傳統實驗所用的機械人工聲響,以取得貼近現實的數據。著有《迷戀音樂的腦》、《傳唱世界的六首歌》、《認知心理學基礎》,其中《迷戀音樂的腦》為麻省理工學院、UCLA的課堂教材,及哈佛大學的新鮮人通識教育核心計畫指定閱讀。

譯者簡介

王心瑩

夜行性鴟鴞科動物,出沒於黑暗的電影院與山林田野間。日間棲息於出版社,偏食富含科學知識與文化厚度的書本。譯作有《我們叫它粉靈豆─Frindle》、《女孩的In發明》、《小狗巴克萊的金融危機》等,合譯有《你保重,我愛你》、《上場！林書豪的躍起》,並曾參與「魔法校車」、「波西傑克森」等系列書籍及《科學人》雜誌翻譯。