This Is Your Brain On Music

 This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, by Daniel J. Levitin, 333 pages

I think I read this maybe a decade ago, but thought it would be a good intro to the science of music to our reading group. Now it's twenty years old and, while still a good introduction, the book could stand an updated re-issue. Other than being too clinical at times or not enough far-reaching, most folks appreciated the "nuggets" of interesting information. For example, the area of a violin players brain that is responsible for left hand coordination will be slightly larger than a non-player--due to their constant practice.  There was some debate as to music being more than just a series of sensory inputs interpreted by the brain--specifically how music also has far reaching effect on other systems in our body--but most of that is missing here. The first chapter is a quick tutorial on how music theory actually works. This is primarily how our brains process music and where in our brains we think it lives. I think some of the questions this book raises are probably answered now or at least we have some good theories about them. For example, the author mentions that they could take MRI's of a performers brain during a performance (because they have to move when they perform) but we can definitely do that now. But at the time, this was probably the best book on the subject designed for popular reading--musicians and non-musicians alike. We don't think about sounds hitting our ears as vibrating molecules but that's exactly what they are--vibrating to certain frequencies that our ears pick up and our brains interpret. Still, as a reader and musician, I was able to pick-up on concepts in this book that I missed out on the first time. Recommended for adults and science-savvy older teens. 

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (2011), 499 pages

Really intriguing study detailing the nuts and bolts about "how" we think. The easiest way to visualize this is to imagine that there are two systems for processing thoughts in your brain--one that works fast and one that works...not so fast. System 1 is sort of automatic and operates quickly with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control. It's how we make intuitive decisions quickly. Think of the following problem:

5+5 = ?

You know the answer from experience and you didn't need to engage any sort of "back-end" brain functions. 

System 2 demands that your brain slows down to recall information or any steps to solving more complex or nuanced problems. Try to solve this problem in your head:

18,480 x 5,390 = ?

Your heart probably started beating faster and your eyes dilated. That's your system 2 kicking in. Your brain is recalling a whole host of steps and memories and processes for solving a problem like this. 

Both systems operate independently but tend to support each other over a range of activities, for example, emotions (system 1) are crucial in adopting logical reasoning (system 2). The main function of System 1 is to maintain and update a model of your personal world, which represents what is normal in it. System 2 focuses on choice and concentration. Kahneman also details some of the most recent research in heuristics and decision-making. A deep-dive of a book that offers an important perspective into how human being really operate and why.