my mind on books

An unusual case in that the Kindle edition is already available, but the hardcover release date is Sept, according to Amazon. Checking the publisher’s website, though, shows the hardcover as also available. The UK hardcover is also available at amazon.co.uk.

The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can’t Do Without It by Philip Ball (Oxford University Press, 2010).

Product description from the publisher:

From Bach fugues to Indonesian gamelan, from nursery rhymes to rock, music has cast its light onto every corner of human culture. But why music excites such deep passions, and how we make sense of musical sound at all have, until recently, remained mysterious. Now in The Music Instinct, award-winning writer Philip Ball provides the first comprehensive, accessible survey of what is known–and still unknown–about how music works its magic, and why, as much as eating and sleeping, it seems indispensable to humanity. Deftly weaving together the latest findings in brain science with history, mathematics, and philosophy, The Music Instinct not only deepens our appreciation of the music we love, but shows that we would not be ourselves without it. The Sunday Timeshailed it as “a wonderful account of why music matters,” with Ball’s “passion for music evident on every page.”

See also: Author’s website, Nature News article “Why Music Is Good for You”