This Is Your Brain on Music

McGill University neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin set out to make recent research on music and the brain accessible to educated general readers. He explains elements such as pitch, rhythm, timbre and harmony and links them to evolution, cognitive psychology, neurochemistry and neuroanatomy, without scientific jargon. A particular focus is how music exploits the mind's habits of categorization and expectation. Levitin also disputes Steven Pinker's claim that music is auditory cheesecake, an incidental by-product of evolution, arguing that it signaled cognitive, emotional and physical health and helped bind groups together. The 2006 book was a Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist, sold over a million copies and led to two documentaries, The Musical Brain and The Music Instinct.

Vinod Khosla listed it in his 2017 book recommendations, calling it fascinating though older.