Why You Love Music: From Mozart to Metallica; The Emotional Power of Beautiful Sounds

In 2011’s How Music Works, British scientist and musician Powell provided readers with an engaging guide to the science of sound. In this follow-up, he takes the next logical step and explores why music is vital to human beings’ emotional, intellectual and physical existence. Chapters range from how music assists patients with Parkinson’s disease and depression and why movies are ineffective without sound tracks to such specific details as how Bob Dylan’s deliberately out-of-time vocals in “Make You Feel My Love” give listeners a sense of emotional clarity and why the 3:25 mark of “The Birds” by English alt-rock band Elbow gives him goose bumps. Powell draws on decades of other people’s research, filtered through his own charming sense of humor, to help readers hear music with fresh ears. Along the way, he also addresses the question of whether musical talent is innate or acquired, and proves that having babies listen to Mozart does not affect their intelligence. He delivers a solid case for why, indeed, people love (and need) music. A lengthy back-end section includes multiple appendices (or “fiddly details,” as Powell calls them) about such specific subjects as timbre, harmonizing, and scales and keys, capped by his top five listening suggestions in classical, jazz, and world music. (June)