Author:John Powell
Have you ever listened to an incredible piece of music and wondered exactly why it makes you want to dance or cry? Are you mystified by how musicians just 'know' what notes to play next when they're improvising? Or why certain notes sound great together and others clash?
Discover the answers in this ear-opening tour of how music works. John Powell, a classically-trained composer and a physics professor, decided to write this entertaining, pain-free guide to the ingredients of music when he discovered that all the other books on the subject gave him a headache. Here he reveals the often little-known facts and fascinating science behind what we listen to, explaining the basics of harmony, scales, chords, keys and rhythm in a way that's easy for everyone to understand.
He also shows us why a note has a different sound to a normal noise, why Chinese people are more likely to have perfect pitch, and even why Beethoven and Led Zeppelin are musically similar.
This book reveals things that people who play music should know but often don't, and will help all of us - even if we can't read a note - increase our listening pleasure.
Thoroughly accessible, and occasionally revelatory ... It's hard to imagine how Powell could have done a better job
—— SpectatorRemarkable capacity to use words to open our ears
—— Damian Thompson , Sunday Telegraph, Book of the WeekI defy anyone to read this book without coming away better informed about why music affects us in such a profound way... His passion for music is evident on every page, and his enthusiasms are infectious.
—— Bee Wilson , The Sunday TimesIf you try listening to music after reading this book, you'll probably hear it differently - more knowingly, even
—— Tom Payne , TelegraphThis book surveys current thinking and tells you why music rocks
—— rev’d Iain Finlayson , TimesIn the world of technologists, Jaron Lanier is that rare combination: a pioneer and a skeptic. A legendary computer scientist, he did crucial early work in the field of virtual reality (the phrase is his). But he now recoils at the way Web 2.0 and social media sell us short as human beings, both in our relationships and in our sense of who we are. In purposeful, reasoned steps, always informed by a profound understanding of how software really works, he lays out his vision of where it all went wrong and champions the power of the human brain in an age of ever smarter machines.
—— Lev Grossman , Time Magazine Top 10 Non-Fiction Books of 2010Eye-opening and hugely enjoyable book ... overall this is an original, surprising and rather wonderful addition to our literature of place
—— Sunday TelegraphA book that begs us to use our imaginations; to appreciate what we pass by every day but never really see
—— MetroThis is a delightful and important book. By focusing on the fringes, on the shabby reality of suburban life, these poets remind us that there are always new myths for old, that the 'edgelands' may even be our true centre
—— John Greening , Country LifeWith chapters on paths, dens, wastelands, business parks and many other topics, this book has opened my eyes to all kinds of things I might not have noticed before
—— Wendy Cope , Daily TelegraphA 2011 favourite
—— Wendy Cope , Observer, Books of the YearThe year's most unusual travel book
[An] eye-opening and hugely enjoyable book
—— Daily TelegraphWritten in a delectable prose that scatters flashes of poetry over a sardonic undertow of social comment, Edgelands is a lyrical triumph. On Britain’s grotty margins, the duo trace “desire paths” to find beauty and mystery in the rough darkness on the edge of town
—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent
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