{"product_id":"the-musical-human-a-history-of-life-on-earth-a-bbc-radio-4-book-of-the-week-9781635576245","title":"The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth - A BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week'","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Michael Spitzer has pulled off the impossible: a \u003ci\u003eGuns, Germs and Steel\u003c\/i\u003e for music.\" --Daniel Levitin \u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA colossal history spanning cultures, time, and space to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the human species.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e165 million years ago saw the birth of rhythm.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e66 million years ago was the first melody.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e40 thousand years ago \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHomo sapiens\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e created the first musical instrument.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eToday music fills our lives. How we have created, performed and listened to this music throughout history has defined what our species is and how we understand who we are. Yet music is an overlooked part of our origin story. \u003ci\u003eThe Musical Human\u003c\/i\u003e takes us on an exhilarating journey across the ages - from Bach to BTS and back - to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the human species. With insights from a wealth of disciplines, world-leading musicologist Michael Spitzer renders a global history of music on the widest possible canvas, looking at music in our everyday lives; music in world history; and music in evolution, from insects to apes, humans to AI. Through this journey we begin to understand how music is central to the distinctly human experiences of cognition, feeling and even biology, both widening and closing the evolutionary gaps between ourselves and animals in surprising ways. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Musical Human\u003c\/i\u003e boldly puts the case that music is the most important thing we ever did; it is a fundamental part of what makes us human.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Spitzer\u003c\/b\u003e is professor of music at the University of Liverpool, where he leads the department's work on classical music. A music theorist and musicologist, he is an authority on Beethoven, with interests in aesthetics and critical theory, cognitive metaphor, and music and affect. He organized the International Conferences on Music and Emotion and the International Conference on Analyzing Popular Music and currently chairs the editorial board of \u003ci\u003eMusic Analysis Journal\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50439519568146,"sku":"9781635576245","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3f70ded5-8b81-4aa7-b13b-b86e35151287.jpg?v=1729655207","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-musical-human-a-history-of-life-on-earth-a-bbc-radio-4-book-of-the-week-9781635576245","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}