Every Brain Needs Music and Your Brain on Art

EVERY BRAIN NEEDS MUSIC by Larry S. Sherman and Dennis Plies has a wonderfully playful and whimsical cover which reflects the authors’ approach to the important topic of the value of music. Larry S. Sherman is a professor of neuroscience at Oregon Health and Science University, an amateur musician, and a frequent lecturer on the brain and music. Dennis Plies is a former music professor at Warner Pacific University and has recorded multiple albums in genres including gospel, classical, and jazz. They clearly have great affection for their topic and have written an engaging and informative text which they hope “will be of interest to anyone who loves music and is interested in gaining insights into how we create music, teach and learn music, and perform and listen to music.” Students who are researching this topic will also find much of value; approximately forty per cent of the text contains appendices with information on two surveys, extensive references, and a detailed index.

YOUR BRAIN ON ART by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross is all about “How the Arts Transform Us” and the authors look at a wide variety of arts, including architecture, crafts, music, painting, sculpture, and more. Their credentials are wide ranging and impressive, too: Magsamen is the founder and director of the International Arts + Mind Lab, Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Ross is the Vice President of Design for hardware product area at Google and a National Endowment for Arts grant recipient. They begin with a simple quiz and discussion of an Aesthetic Mindset and then turn to aspects like the impact of arts on mental and physical health. Students may find the tone and content to be rather dense or academic and therefore a bit more difficult to decipher and appreciate. However, a range of authors, (e.g., Duhigg, Levitin, Louv, and Pipher), have commented positively on this new text and we will have a copy on our shelves for those who are interested.