Kind of a rec, and a rant, on music and logic

(New icon that ase made for me! Yay!)

Okay, I apologize for the long hiatus. Now that winter and the associated Hand Issues are over, perhaps more postings! Okay, now I have to tell you about This Book.

I haven't been as excited about a book in a long time (since, I think, Bujold) as I have been about reading David Huron's Sweet Anticipation, a book on cognitive psychology in music (with a particular thesis dealing with anticipation and prediction). I bought this book off of a rec in Nature-- the first time I've ever done that, and the first time I've bought a book without having read any sort of sample of the contents in quite some time. And wow, did it pay off.

I LOVE Huron's book. ( How do I love it? Let me incoherently count the ways. )

Although you don't need a science background to read the book (he talks about concepts like information in a way where he doesn't have to use any math) he never plays cute or dumbs down things in a way that masks rigor, and if you're used to that, well, you won't like this book.

Speaking of which, I then went to the library and checked out Daniel Levitin's This is Your Brain on Music, which although treating somewhat similar material is basically the opposite of Huron's book. I'm too disgusted with it to even bother taking the energy to give it a proper rant, but...( cut for rant )