Book description
What makes a distant oboe's wail beautiful? Why do some kinds of music lift us to ecstasy, but not others? How can music make sense to an ear and brain evolved for detecting the approaching lion or tracking the unsuspecting gazelle? Lyrically interweaving discoveries from science, psychology, music theory, paleontology,…
Why read it?
1 author picked Music, the Brain and Ecstasy as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Written in 1997, this was the first of many books (including the others on my list here) that united my experience in sound design, music, and neuroscience.
In an elegant and entertaining style, Jourdain embraces the theme from Pink Panther by Henry Mancini and illustrates the continuum of musical experience in tone, melody, harmony, rhythm, composition, listening, and understanding while revealing the hows and whys our brains perceive, integrate and elicit emotion.
I keep referring to this seminal work, which helped me write my own book, and I feel grateful for Jourdain’s groundbreaking entry into this field.
From David's list on power of music and sound on the brain.
If you love Music, the Brain and Ecstasy...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
Want books like Music, the Brain and Ecstasy?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Music, the Brain and Ecstasy.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,277
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like Music, the Brain and Ecstasy, you might also like...
The Bridge
The Bridge provides a compassionate and well researched window into the worlds of linear and circular thinking. A core pattern to the inner workings of these two thinking styles is revealed, and most importantly, insight into how to cross the distance between them. Some fascinating features emerged such as, circular…
And Then They Were Gone
Of the 918 Americans who died in the shocking murder-suicides of November 18, 1978, in the tiny South American country of Guyana, a third were under eighteen. More than half were in their twenties or younger.
The authors taught in a small high school in San Francisco where Reverend Jim…
