An extraordinary rags to riches story

A terrific read...packed full of self-deprecating humour...refreshingly free from self-pity

An emotional rags to riches story

[Goodall] knows his stuff, and tells it well

Highly knowledgeable, and a brilliant communicator, Goodall has an infectious enthusiasm and is genuinely respectful of all forms of music

Now comes Howard Goodall and all of everyone's prayers are answered ... He is sharply witty and entirely on the ball, but he never acts the smart ass and, most importantly, he obviously has deep knowledge of what he is talking about ... I prophesy that it will not only win prizes but change lives

An accessible guide to roughly 42,000 years of music in just over 300 pages that manages neither to sacfrifice precise detail nor pugnacious opinion ... Goodall is unfailingly acute ... a clever, engaging read

There is a Jumpin’ Jack Flash liveliness in Goodall’s approach

Who better to demystify the origins of music and trace the evolution of this most universal of artistic disciplines?

The Story of Music is a lively zip through some 45 millennia … jumping back and forth between classical, folk and pop

He starts right at the beginning, with 25,000-year-old bone flutes ... It's a huge brief, made huger by Goodall's alertness to new thinking in scholarly circles, and his fondness for interesting asides ... a racily written, learned and often shrewdly insightful book

A roller-coaster ride, which Goodall tells with verve... a racily written, learned and often shrewdly insightful book

An accessible guide to roughly 42,000 years of music in just over 300 pages … The Story of Music is a clever, engaging read

Howard Goodall’s beautifully clear and compelling account is both a hymn to human endeavour and a groundbreaking map of man’s musical journey

Goodall's distinguisihing gift is his ability to explain the mechanics of music instead of gliding hastily over them. He is fearless in unknotting those medieval mysteries of oranum and isorhythms, as well as chords, triads, fugues, keys, equal temperament, atonality, dodecaphony and blues

A clear and compelling account which is a hymn to human endeavor and a groundbreaking musical journey

Fascinating – as well as illuminating on how music works

At his best, Goodall has a facility for lively shorthand…

This ambitious and all embracing history of 40, 000 years of music will have you dancing in the aisles

[Rod] has warm good humour and a nice line in self-deprecation...He wears it well—and tells it even better.

By some distance the most entertaining of last year’s...rock star memoirs.

This book takes readers on an adventure, that is at times deeply moving, through the life of one of the UK's greatest singers.

Ruthlessly entertaining