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The Musical Human

A History of Life on Earth

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The Musical Human

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

Bloomsbury presents The Musical Human by Michael Spitzer, read by Daniel Levitin.

A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

'Full of delightful nuggets' Guardian online

'Entertaining, informative and philosphical ... An essential read' All About History

'Extraordinary range ... All the world and more is here' Evening Standard


165 million years ago saw the birth of rhythm.

66 million years ago came the first melody.

40 thousand years ago Homo sapiens created the first musical instrument.

Today music fills our lives. How we have created, performed and listened to music throughout history has defined what our species is and how we understand who we are. Yet it is an overlooked part of our origin story.

The Musical Human takes us on an exhilarating journey across the ages – from Bach to BTS and back – to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the human species. With insights from a wealth of disciplines, world-leading musicologist Michael Spitzer renders a global history of music on the widest possible canvas, from global history to our everyday lives, from insects to apes, humans to artificial intelligence.

'Michael Spitzer has pulled off the impossible: a Guns, Germs and Steel for music' Daniel Levitin

'A thrilling exploration of what music has meant and means to humankind' Ian Bostridge

©2021 Michael Spitzer (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Anthropology Civilization History & Criticism Music World Entertainment

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All stars
Most relevant
I didn’t love his voice or the way he read. The section on African American music was really disappointing, BUT this was otherwise really well done and his areas of expertise show. Very interesting perspectives that integrate other really good work being produced about other animal communities and our own history. I’ve recommended to friends and I recommend it to you.

Worth a read

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In principle I question the decision to have an American narrate a book which frequently references the author’s Britishness - and in practice the monotony of the narration made a fairly heavy book unbearable.

Terrible narration

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