David Byrne's internationally bestselling magnum opus on the subject of music

How Music Works is David Byrne's bestselling, buoyant celebration of a subject he has spent a lifetime thinking about. Drawing on his own work over the years with Talking Heads, Brian Eno, and his myriad collaborators - along with journeys to Wagnerian opera houses, African villages, and anywhere music exists - Byrne shows how music emerges from cultural circumstance as much as individual creativity. It is his magnum opus, and an impassioned argument about music's liberating, life-affirming power.

"It was wildly ambitious to try and turn this galaxy of theory into a readable work of scholarship but Byrne has done it, and done it with style. Brian Eno might as well cancel that book deal now" - * The Observer *

"As well as being an investigation into the context in which music is made, How Music Works is an accomplished celebration of an ever-evolving art form that can alter how we look at ourselves and the world" - * Independent *

"Brilliantly original" - * New York Times Book Review *

"As accessible as pop yet able to posit deep and startlingly original thoughts and discoveries in almost every paragraph . . . this book will make you hear music in a different way" - * The Sunday Telegraph *

"A very involving read - Byrne is good company - he has a gift for a telling analogy that makes complex points easily grasped" - * The Herald *

"How Music Works is a melange of bookish musings on how music is shaped by the places it is played and the technology used to create and disseminate it" - * MOJO *

"An entertaining and erudite book . . . this is a serious, straight-forward account of an art from that also manages to be inspiring" - * Financial Times *

"Given the vastness of the subject, calling a treatise How Music Works seems intellectually arrogant, but it could also be seen as disarmingly frank, a fresh perspective from a down-to-earth mind. David Byrne's book, although a self-conscious art object (backwards pagination, upholstered cover and so on) contains plenty of plain-spoken, sensible observations: a dichotomy typical of the man" - * Guardian *

"Incisive and intriguing" - * The Evening Standard *

"How Music Works is not just a noticeably handsome book but a beguiling and hugely perceptive one too" - * Sunday Business Post *

"The finest music book of the year . . . Handsomely bound, beautifully printed, wittily illustrated, it would make a beautiful collector's item but there is much more going on between the covers . . . bursting with a sense of free-flowing curiosity" - * The Daily Telegraph *

"Creators of all stripes will find much to inspire them in Mr Byrne's erudite musings on the biological and mathematical underpinnings of sound. . . His observations on the nature of pattern and repetition, and on people's neurological response to aesthetic experience, apply to all creative fields" - * The Economist *

"It's a great book to pick up and start at any chapter, a hugely rewarding and enriching read. A fascinating look at music from many angles, I would receommend it to anyone who plays or simply has an interest in the history and evolution of the musical form, the culture of music, both as a well of inspiration and as a simple commodity" - * Irish Times *

"By investigating how music works, Byrne shows us how best it can be used. We are all the richer for his effort" - * New Statesman *

"Fascinating look at music's power to move" - * The Guardian *

"A big beautiful work of art. . . As you might expect from someone as intelligent and open-minded as Byrne, How Music Works is a far ranging and astute look at all the facets of music" - * The Big Issue *

"Disarmingly frank, a fresh perspective from a down-to-earth mind" - * The Guardian *

"Inspiring" - * Financial Times *

"An ambitious attempt at understanding a phenomenon to which the former Talking Head has dedicated his life's work" - * Quietus *

"Extraordinary" - * Guardian *

"Unique among a deluge of music biographies and autobiographies coming out this Christmas, this wildly ambitious book breaks the mould" - * The Sunday Telegraph *

"Byrne is a crisp and enthusiastic guide" - * The Sunday Times *

"Absorbing" - * Independent *

"[A] wide-ranging tome" - * Wired Magazine *

"A fluid, intelligent analysis" - * The Irish Times *

"Satisfying" - * MOJO *