Bibliography

Here are some of the best books on how making music affects us. Some of these are well worth a read in themselves. I'll be drawing on them as sources for some of these posts. Often books like these don't give great references to the detailed science, but they're a good place to start.

I've also listed some books on general aspects of how the brain works, which are important references and often have useful snippets on music.

(Note: Links are to bookshop.org rather than to certain other hyperscale online booksellers. If you do choose to buy one of these, bookshop.org allows you to nominate a local bookshop to benefit from the sale. The world needs local bookshops.)

Books on how music affects us

This is your brain on music, Daniel Levitin, Penguin, 2019.
Music Advantage: How learning music helps your child's brain and wellbeing, Dr Anita Collins, Allen& Unwin, September 2021.
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Dr Oliver Sacks, Pan Macmillan, 2018.
The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It, Philip Ball, Vintage Publishing, 2018.

Books on how the brain works

How the mind works, Steve Pinker, Penguin, 1997.
The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist's Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults, Frances Jensen, Harper Collins, 2015.
Welcome to your child's brain, Sandra Aamodt & Sam Wang, One World, 2011.
The river of consciousness, Dr. Oliver Sacks, Picador, 2017.
Mechanics of the mind, Colin Blakemore, Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Comments

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