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The World in Six Songs

How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature

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The World in Six Songs

By: Daniel Levitin
Narrated by: Daniel Levitin
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Dividing the sum total of human musical achievement, from Beethoven to The Beatles, Busta Rhymes to Bach, into just six fundamental forms, Levitin illuminates, through songs of friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion and love, how music has been instrumental in the evolution of language, thought and culture. And how, far from being a bit of a song and dance, music is at the core of what it means to be human.

A one-time record producer, now a leading neuroscientist, Levitin has composed a catchy and startlingly ambitious narrative that weaves together Darwin and Dionne Warwick, memoir and biology, anthropology and a jukebox of anecdote to create nothing less than the 'soundtrack of civilisation'.

©2019 Daniel Levitin (P)2021 Penguin Audio Anthropology Biological Sciences Biology History & Criticism Music Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Science
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Most relevant
To be fair, the book is quite old (2008). It should be updated to reflect the new and grown body of music related literature that has happened over the last 15 years.
It touches upon multiple disciplines, which admittedly makes the in-depth knowledge and probing quite a challenge. But this in-depth look would be necessary to make a a convincing case of the arguments made here.
It does refer to academic literature, but almost everywhere it's shallow as there surely would be more to create analysis and discussion. Some of the material is anecdotal and the book probably isn't trying to offer a comprehensive framework, but rather an individual opinion somewhat based on scientific literature.
I think many of the arguments are sensible, but one would need more to defend them and offer an expert opinion. This books is not that and - even though during the time of the publishing it might have been a novel and interesting take - it's asking for a comprehensive sequel based on the new scientific literature.
Interesting listen though, but not what I was hoping for.

Interesting but old and not in-depth enough to make a convincing case

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