Published in the UK & internationally as Music As Medicine: How We Can Harness Its Therapeutic Power.
Praise for I Heard There Was A Secret Chord
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Book Reviews
"[A] fun and thoughtful read. In accessible terms, it gives a kind of crash course in the aspects of neuroscience that relate to aspects of our daily lives: joy, pain, learning, memory."
Financial Times [Of London], January 16, 2025
"In this fascinating book, a neuroscientist makes a strong case for the therapeutic force of music, describing ways in which it can be a beneficial part of recovery for patients…
[Levitin] merges research, theory and intriguing anecdotes about his interactions with musicians as well as patients to provide evidence of his contention that music not only functions as a temporary uplift or soothing balm in times of trouble, but possesses a much deeper restorative quality…[Music As Medicine/I Heard There Was A Secret Chord] will certainly make you think more deeply about the healing properties of music, particularly for those who perform.
The Guardian, January 14, 2025
“I Heard There Was a Secret Chord (a follow-up to his bestselling This Is Your Brain on Music) is that rare thing: a science book that’s accessible to the lay reader but also packed with enough serious information to function as a useful reference…nearly every page contains either a surprising revelation about how music travels through our brains or a touching story of it helping when more conventional treatments have not.”
Karl Straub, Washington Independent Review of Books, December 18, 2024
Levitin "mixes…scientific explanations with lively anecdotes from his own music career and the careers of the many performers he has met and worked with…essential to our understanding. [A] theme that resounds loudest throughout Mr. Levitin’s book, is to never underestimate music’s sheer power to engage us in the myriad, mysterious chords that make up our existence. To which we all might respond, as in the Leonard Cohen anthem that gives Mr. Levitin’s book its title, Hallelujah."
The Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2024
"[Levitin's] vital new book… [is] worth a hallelujah!"
The Globe and Mail, September 21, 2024
"With clear prose and illustrations, his own experiences and storytelling prowess, [Levitin] demonstrates the healing power of music. With a detective bent, he starts with the Paleolithic Era to today’s newest research on music’s ability to help relieve symptoms of neurological diseases and mental health issues. He answers the puzzle to how our brain is able to elicit joy, sadness and even fear when we listen to a piece of music and its power to be great medicine for our souls."
NY Journal of Books, August 26, 2024
"Accessible, personable…the elements of 'Secret Chord' come together in harmony, using specific examples and language that doesn’t intimidate…an exemplary book."
Boston Globe, August 20, 2024
“Levitin provides a 21st-century perspective on the hyperbolic claim made more than 200 years ago by the poet Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (Novalis): ‘Every illness is a musical problem – its cure a musical solution.’”
Psychology Today, August 13, 2024
“Levitin explores the curative powers of music, showing us how and why it is one of the most potent therapies today.”
LA Times, August 10, 2024
Also by Daniel J. Levitin
Edited by Daniel J. Levitin
About Daniel J. Levitin
Daniel J. Levitin is an award-winning neuroscientist, musician, and best-selling author. His research encompasses music, the brain, health, productivity and creativity.
Levitin has published more than 300 articles, in journals including Science, Nature, PNAS, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal. His research has been featured over 2200 times in the popular press, including 17 articles in The New York Times, and in The London Times, Scientific American, and Rolling Stone. He is a frequent guest on NPR and CBC Radio and has appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, and CNN. His TED talk is among the most popular of all time.
He is the author of four New York Times bestselling books: This Is Your Brain On Music, The World in Six Songs, The Organized Mind and Successful Aging (published in the UK as The Changing Mind), as well as the international bestseller A Field Guide to Lies (also published as Weaponized Lies). A popular public speaker, he has given presentations on the floor of Parliament in London, to the U.S. Congress, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. He has consulted for a number of companies including Apple, Booz-Allen, Microsoft, the United States Navy, Sonos, Philips, Sony, Fender, and AT&T.
Dr. Levitin earned his B.A. from Stanford in Cognitive Science, his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology with a Ph.D. minor in Music Technology from the University of Oregon, and and completed post-doctoral training at Stanford University Medical School and UC Berkeley in Neuroimaging and Perception.
As a musician (tenor saxophone, guitar, vocals and bass), he has performed with Mel Tormé, David Byrne, Rosanne Cash, Sting, Bobby McFerrin, Victor Wooten and Tom Scott. Levitin has produced and consulted on albums by artists including Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell and on the films Good Will Hunting and Pulp Fiction, and has been awarded 17 gold and platinum records.
Levitin taught at Stanford in the Departments of Computer Science, Psychology, History of Science, and Music, and has been a Visiting Professor at Dartmouth, and UC Berkeley. He is currently the Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at the Minerva University, San Francisco, California, and James McGill Professor Psychology, Neuroscience and Music at McGill University.