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Ah, the Los Angeles Public Library!  What a grand system!  With a mission “to provide free and easy access to information, ideas, books and technology that enrich, educate and empower every individual in our city’s diverse communities“, LAPL is one of the great institutions of Los Angeles.  The beautiful and vibrant Central Library is buttressed by 72 neighborhood libraries, and you can reserve any book in the system and LAPL will send it to your nearest branch at no charge.  More generally, public lending libraries are one of the United States’ most noble and democratic concepts, reducing financial barriers to learning, and more recently, helping to narrow the digital divide.

A successful experiment…

In 2009, I stopped buying books and started borrowing regularly from LAPL.  (more…)

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For the last year or so, I’ve been exploring slant form and “matsuri” / “bon” taiko. I have been searching for a way to notate my new movements and have been reading about dance notation. I’ll do a separate post on taiko movement notation once I’ve figured out a workable system. In the meantime, here are quick reviews of the books I’ve read thus far, including one fantastic work by Ann Hutchinson Guest with historical and philosophical perspective on dance notation.

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Beautiful Evidence, by Edward Tufte
Healing with Whole Foods, by Paul Pitchford
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami

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Read on for reviews of the five books below, including the possible discovery of an historical artifact and a fun music listening test!

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Here are quick reviews of the books I have read recently.  Yay public libraries!

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I’ve just finished a string of music-related books that I very much enjoyed.  I can heartily recommend checking them out from your public library.  I’ve returned my copies to the LAPL system, so they’re happily waiting for the next reader.  (The LAPL holds system is incredible!  Any book in the whole Los Angeles system can be sent to your nearest LA library, for free!  Now *this* is what taxes are all about!)

The take-home messages from these books for me are:

• Experiencing music is a whole-brain endeavor.
• The ears are wired to multiple regions of the brain.
• Emotional responses to music are partly hard-wired and thus similar across cultures.
• Savant-like musical skills are the product of the brain’s extreme specialization and sometimes have a down side.  (A person might have perfect pitch, but difficulty following melody.  Another might be able to sing fluently in dozens of languages, but not be able to add simple numbers.)
• Master musicians (and masters of anything) are a  product of their surroundings, circumstances, and luck.  Plus 10,000 hours of practice.
• Expertise in any field requires an array of skills working together.  An IQ of 200 does not substantially increase one’s chances of winning a Nobel Prize.  Everyone over 100 or so, is “good enough”, but the Nobel Prize winner has the fortune and luck that their various, good-enough skills all work together toward the prize.
• Music provides insight into humanity.  Practicing music provides personal insight.

Read on for brief reviews of the books.

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