Wired for Music: A Search for Health and Joy Through the Science of Sound
“Thoroughly researched and tenderly written” — The Globe and Mail
A blend of science and memoir, Wired for Music is available as ebook, audiobook, hardcover and paperback. Order from the links below:
“Beautifully written…riveting...read this wonderful book” — Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score
Finalist, Science Writers and Communicators of Canada Book Awards (2022). Finalist, Canadian Book Club Awards (winner to be announced January 2025).
New for readers — a series of photos and drawings illustrating key ideas in each chapter (free on this website):
Wired for Music delves into rhythm and song as a source of health, connection and joy. Music isn’t just “ear candy” or a series of torturous exercises we remember from piano lessons.
In the right doses, music can double as a mild antidepressant, painkiller, sleeping pill, memory aid — and even trigger a cocaine-like high. Neuroscientists have discovered that music stimulates core memory, motor and emotion centers in the brain.
But here’s the catch: We can listen to music every day — in the car, at the gym — and still miss out on some of its most potent effects.
In the digital age, many of us are losing touch with our innate proclivities for music.
Fortunately, our species’ age-old connection to rhythm, melody, timbre and harmony is wired within us.
Hayley Williams from American rock band Paramore, singing in Germany. Photo: Sven-Sebastian Sajak
Throughout human history, music has been used as medicine. Drawing from neuroscience, anthropology and evolutionary biology, my book explores how a music habit can enhance everyday life, from moods and memory to social relationships and the age-old search for meaning.
Regardless of age or musical talent, anyone can tap into music to invigorate the body and tune the brain.
Watch: Click here for my conversation with Dr. Jillian Horton in the National Arts Centre series “Medicine, Arts, and #Life.”
Listen: Press play below to hear me talk about music and anxiety with the CBC’s Matt Galloway on Canada’s national radio.
