The Mind, Music & Math

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Original Air Date: 
October 22, 2006

Remember the girl on TV with the frying pan? She was out to make a point about your brain on drugs, and she did. Now Daniel Levitin's catching a lot of people's ears with a new book called "Your Brain on Music." In this hour, To the Best of Our Knowledge visits with Daniel Levitin and explores music, the mind and the brain. Also, British novelist Nick Hornby and physicist Janna Levin with new fiction that ponders the minds of two brilliant and famous mathematicians, as well as some other would-be suicides.

Daniel Levitin on "This Is Your Brain on Music"

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Audio

How do composers and performers play with our expectations to keep the brain interested in music?

Nick Hornby on "A Long Way Down"

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Audio

British novelist Nick Hornby has written a funny book about suicide.  It's called "A Long Way Down."

Adam Haslett on "You Are Not A Stranger Here"

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Audio

Adam tells Jim Fleming that the emotional worlds of his mentally ill characters are different from those of the rest of us only in degree, not in kind.

Janna Levin on Math and Madness

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Audio

Physicist Janna Levin tells Steve Paulson why she wanted to write about mathematicians Alan Turing and Kurt Godel, and why her book is a novel.

Daniel Levitin on Children and Music

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Audio

Daniel Levitin reacts to a musical example Anne Strainchamps provides and talks about music and children's brains.

Show Details 📻
Airdates
October 22, 2006
October 14, 2007
Guests: 

Daniel Levitin

Professor

Nick Hornby

Author

Adam Haslett

Author
adamhaslett.net

Janna Levin

Physicist
jannalevin.com

Daniel Levitin

Professor
Categories: 
Literature
Last modified: 
August 02, 2024