5 great winter reads for musicians
Ah, the joys of winter. Long evenings, cold days, and lots of incentive to curl up under a blanket with a hot beverage and lose ourselves in a good book. As a devotee of both reading and cold weather, I’m always searching for new books and re-visiting old favorites. And, like passionate readers everywhere, I can’t resist asking friends for recommendations or sharing my favorite titles with them.
I read widely—fiction and non-fiction alike—and I’m always eager to check new titles that feed my favorite interests. These five reads are some of the best music applicable non-fiction books I’ve read over the past few months. They’ve been windows into ways to live my life more meaningfully and to understand myself and others more clearly. I hope you find them as enjoyable as I did. Happy reading!
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and to Make Time for What Counts. By Oliver Burkeman.
What it’s about: Call this an anti self-help book: the guiding philosophy of this book is what the author, Oliver Burkeman calls “imperfectionism.” All the advice offered focuses refreshingly on recognizing, embracing, and working within our limitations, not on believing the myth that we can overcome them through superhuman effort. He offers no assured steps to mastery, just well-researched daily shifts in perspective.
Why I like it: I read this book the way the author recommended—just one small chapter a day. These daily dips into practical sanity made me realize just how much conscious and unconscious striving was undercutting my love of life, as well as the quality of the work I was doing. It reminded me that we never get things all together, and to embrace living as I am today—flaws and all—to find contentment in life.
Favorite quote: “And so instead of asking how to summon the energy or motivation or self-discipline to do something that matters to you, it’s often more helpful to ask: What if this might be a lot easier than I’d been assuming?…Tim Ferriss phrases the question slightly differently: ‘What would this look like if this were easy?’”
The Piano Player of Budapest: a True Story of Survival, Hope, and Music. By Roxanne de Bastion
What it’s about: When author and singer-songwriter Roxanne de Bastion inherited a family piano when her father died, she received more than just a beloved instrument. A found cassette recording of her grandfather, Stephen, playing one of his compositions led her to uncover the history of her family as well as the family piano. Through cassette recordings, unpublished memoirs, letters, and documents, she learned not only of Stephen’s great fame as a pianist in Budapest, but also the horrors he suffered in concentration camps during WWII.
Why I like it: This story not only exposes the prejudice and atrocities Jews faced in Hungary during WWII—events that many in Budapest still prefer to pretend never happened—but is one of the most eloquent non-fiction books I’ve read in years. In Roxanne de Bastion’s poetic hands, her grandfather’s story sings of the power of music and hope in the face of unimaginable horrors.
Favorite quote: “What is song, if not a truth passed down through generations? Sometimes, the melody is dark.”
The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race. By Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Michael E. Long
What it’s about: Many of the inexplicable differences between human beings can be traced to a single chemical in our brains: dopamine. Authors George Washington University professor and psychiatrist Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Georgetown University lecturer Michael E. Long’s study of dopamine taught them that dopamine is the source of our every urge, that little bit of biology that makes an ambitious business professional sacrifice everything in pursuit of success, or that drives a satisfied spouse to risk it all for the thrill of someone new.
Why I love it: This fascinating study not only gave me insight into loved ones who struggle with mental illness or addiction, but also helped me understand my own outlook on everything from risk to political positions. The Molecule of More is a window into the impulses that drive most human behavior.
Favorite quote: “To your brain…[dopamine] is the ultimate multipurpose device, urging us, through thousands of neuro-chemical processes, to move beyond the pleasure of just being, into exploring the universe of possibilities that come when we imagine…It is a blessing and a curse, a motivation and a reward.”
Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold on to What Matters. By Charan Ranganath
What it’s about: Author Dr. Charan Ranganath shows that memory doesn’t act like a computer file retrieval but is instead is a highly transformative force that shapes how we experience the world. Knowing this can help us with daily remembering and with the challenge of memory loss as we age. Combining accessible language with cutting-edge research, he reveals the surprising ways our brains record the past, how we use that information to understand who we are in the present and to imagine and plan for the future.
Why I like it: As a pianist, memorization has been an important part of being a musician. On the personal level, having a better understanding of how memories are formed and the purpose of memory has taught me to stop looking for factual accuracy in the stories of my past and to instead look for the truths my memories offer me.
Favorite quote: “Memory is much, much more than an archive of the past; it is a prism through which we see ourselves, others, and the world. It’s the connective tissue underlying what we say, think, and do.”
I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine. By Daniel J. Levitin.
What it’s about: Written by neuroscientist, musician, and New York Times best-selling author Daniel J. Levitin (This Is Your Brain on Music) I Heard There Was a Secret Chord writes about the therapeutic powers of music from a scientific perspective. He references numerous studies on music and the brain, demonstrating how music can contribute to the treatment of a host of ailments, from neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, to cognitive injury, depression, and pain.
Why I like it: Every few months an article is written about how music can do things that help people live better lives, but few offer scientific proof to support what (at times) reads like wishful thinking. This book’s focus on rigorous science allows me to trust Levitin’s claims, and his passion for music reminds me of what a gift music is to all of us.
Favorite quote: “Music experience, even in the absence of formal training, changes the very structure and wiring of the brain. The changes not only facilitate the flow of information across the left and right hemispheres, they also connect the frontal lobe, the seat of higher thought, with the motor cortex….Musical perception is truly multimodal, and can lead to lifelong improvement in brain function and connectivity.”
Photo by Aga Putra, courtesy of UpSplash