Customer Reviews

Beethoven's Anvil: Music In Mind And Culture

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It took a cognitive scientist who is also a musician to notice an obvious but scientifically ignored linkage: making music together is something that enables humans to improvise cooperation on the fly. Benzon uses his own experiences as a musician to tie the extensive citations in biology, psychology, sociology, and economics into a sense-making narrative. Benzon believes that when people make music together they create a kind of shared brain-state that exists in no single head, but emerges from the synchronized communications of a group. and uses an impressive body of knowledge to back up his case. Benzon might be proved right and he might be proved wrong, but he uses solid science and creative conjecture to make a highly readable as well as reasonable case.

Music and culture are discussed, not with the usual artistic focus, but with a healthy blend of science and sociology added to the mix. Is music a luxury, an art, or a biological need? William Benzon's Beethoven's Anvil explores links between music and brain functioning, using the history of music and its evolution to draw some important arguments about music's importance to brain functioning as a whole.

I cannot recommend this book. He puts forth some interesting ideas, but it is all conjecture. There is no scientific or historical foundation. It's all "could be", and "might be", and "may be", which becomes very frustrating. It also lacks focus. It drifts from topic to topic without a coherent driving thesis. Save your time and money.