Book cover of Music Asylums: Wellbeing Through Music in Everyday Life

Book description

Taking a cue from Erving Goffman's classic work, Asylums, Tia DeNora develops a novel interdisciplinary framework for music, health and wellbeing. Considering health and illness both in medical contexts and in the often-overlooked realm of everyday life, DeNora argues that these identities are by no means mutually exclusive. Moreover, she…


When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Music Asylums as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Tia DeNora is a brilliant sociologist who writes a lot about music, and this book makes a great argument for music as a resource, or what she calls a ‘technology of self’.

We use music to shape our identity, and drawing on Erving Goffman’s ideas about ‘asylums’, she suggests that music is one such space we create in our lives where we can find ourselves again. Being musical becomes an integral part of being human.

Music has always been somewhere I’ve found solace and freedom, and I know that it’s the same for lots of the people I work with,…

If you love Music Asylums...

Ad

Book cover of The High House

The High House by James Stoddard,

The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.

The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.

Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…

Want books like Music Asylums?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Music Asylums.

Browse books like Music Asylums

Book cover of How Music Works
Book cover of The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body
Book cover of This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,210

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Music Asylums, you might also like...

Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

5 book lists we think you will like!