Why We Like Music

Is it really true that listening to Mozart makes us and our children smarter? Why is there always classical background music in high-class restaurants? Does opera really make cows give more milk and do sharks like Barry White? Darwin believed our ancestors used music in courting, and this eventually [...]
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Is it really true that listening to Mozart makes us and our children smarter? Why is there always classical background music in high-class restaurants? Does opera really make cows give more milk and do sharks like Barry White? Darwin believed our ancestors used music in courting, and this eventually led to words. Others reckon music has the same evolutionary role as a delicious cream pie: none. Why, then, do we have music, and how exactly does it give us pleasure? Though scientists have been busy in laboratories and in the field, they propose no unanimous conclusion as yet. From Neanderthal to Metallica, from Pythagoras to neuroscience, this book covers the state of the art in research about our relationship with music, and ends up depicting the birth of a new, extremely fertile and exciting science. Studies of music and the brain have recently attracted intense interest leading to the success of recent books. Bencivelli's distinctive contribution is a broad and inclusive approach, and an easy writing style intended to introduce non-specialist readers to the ways scientists formulate questions and look for answers in this new and fascinating field.