This Is What It Sounds Like

Music + neuroscience + memoir? This book was made for me.

I read this incredibly slowly because the author recommends certain songs for you to listen to as examples to learn more about listener profiles and various aspects of music, and it would always distract me by making me want to listen to more music. But this was great. I learned so much in every chapter. Since starting it, I have listened to music differently. I do think the subtitle of the book is very misleading though; the book doesn't go into “what your music taste says about you” at all. It tells you a lot of interesting information about how to figure out your own music taste and what makes you fall in love with a song. There's also just a lot of cool things about how listening to music works in general.

9/10 because some of the ancedotes and random things the author included were either unnecessary or repetitive.

If you've ever wondered why a specific record gives you goosebumps, but has no effect whatsoever on your friend, this is the book for you. Rogers, who engineered records for Prince, Barenaked Ladies and many others, describes the seven key attributes of a given record (authenticity, realism, novelty, rhythm, melody, lyrics and timbre) and provides examples for the extremes of each, so you can develop your own “listener profile.” She lost me a little when she got all science-y about our brain's various areas and neural pathways, but considering she started college in her 40s and is now a professor of cognitive neuroscience, she's allowed to show off a bit. There is a website associated with the book that has links to all of the songs that are mentioned; check it out to listen to old and possibly new favorites.