Nolan’s 2019 book unlocks the full and fascinating story behind our universal love for music: where it comes from, what is says about us, and how it can best enrich our lives!
To purchase and learn more, visit: http://WhyYouLikeIt.com
The www.WhyYouLikeIt.com website is also a robust web compliment to the book, with audio accompaniment to musical figures, playlists, and supplemental material, etc.
Brief Overview of Why You Like It :
Everyone loves music. But what is it that makes music so universally beloved and have such a powerful effect on us?
In this sweeping and authoritative book, Dr. Nolan Gasser—a composer, pianist, and musicologist, and the chief architect of the Music Genome Project, which powers Pandora Radio—breaks down what musical taste is, where it comes from, and what our favorite songs say about us.
Sample Praise of Why You Like It :
"One of those rare books that both geeks and casual listeners can enjoy, combining science, art and sheer enthusiasm to explain why you might love bluegrass while your significant other prefers the blues." — The Washington Post
"A work of staggering erudition and breadth. In taxonomizing the responses music elicits, Gasser identifies the peak high as 'frisson,' characterized by 'thrills and chills"... Why You Like It is a gateway to this exalted state." — The Economist
"A sprawling, packed-to-the-brim study of the art and science of music, as monumental and as busy as a Bach fugue... Gasser's enterprise has a pleasingly mad-scientist feel to it, one that will attract music theory geeks as much as neuroscientists, anthropologists, psychologists, and Skynyrd fans." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A marvelous overview of the science and sources behind why we're attracted to some pieces of music and not others, by a generous and thoughtful guide and a leading musical thinker of our day.” — Daniel J. Levitin, cognitive psychologist, musician, and author of This Is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs
"It is obvious that music is the 'fastest' art form; two notes and something invisible and magical happens. How great then to have a book that helps us understand that mysterious, but fundamental alchemy." — Ken Burns, award-winning documentary filmmaker