Storr, the bestselling author of Solitude, explores the intimate effects of music, and the reasons for its central place in our lives. He traces the origins of music and its functional development in society as entertainment, communication, and therapy, making a powerful argument for the universalit...

Storr, the bestselling author of Solitude, explores the intimate effects of music, and the reasons for its central place in our lives. He traces the origins of music and its functional development in society as entertainment, communication, and therapy, making a powerful argument for the universality and centrality of music.

"Writing with grace and clarity...he touches on everything from the evolution of the Western tonal system, to the Freudian theory of music as infantile escapism, to the differing roles o the right and left brain in perceiving music."

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Drawing on his own life long passion for music and synthesizing the theories of Plato, Schopenhauer, Stravinsky, Nietzsche, Bartok, and others, distinguished author and psychologist Anthony Storr illuminates music's deep beauty and timeless truth and why and how music is one of the fundamental activities of mankind.