Reddit reviews Proust Was a Neuroscientist

These are few nonfiction books that I've enjoyed reading this year:

Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer

America's Constitution: A Biography by Akhil Reed Amar

In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent

The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood

You should check out a book called Proust Was a Neuroscientist. This book talks about Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and the debut night where the people rioted over what they heard. Check out the book for other scientific discoveries made through the arts, decades ahead of scientific discovery.

http://www.amazon.com/Proust-Was-Neuroscientist-Jonah-Lehrer/dp/0618620109

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rite_of_Spring

The reason it was such a big deal was because the people didn't know what they were listening to/watching. While our ears are much more "advanced" now, typical pop music sticks to familiar chord progressions, forms, and even subject matter because it is easy to relate to and understand. Check out this video for a bunch of popular songs that do exactly that.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ

Proust was A Neuroscientist <--- Amazon link. This is more or less about how Proust and a handful of other artists, poets, and writers had an understanding of how the mind analyzes and retains things before science had even begun to tackle the phenomenon.

Because you're used to hearing it a certain way. Most people don't have perfect pitch, but the brain is still incredibly responsive to pitch (even non-musicians), so when their favorite song is played in the "wrong" key, they generally notice.

Music is a cultural and societal construct. Up until the early 20th century (basically the premiere of Stravinsky's Rites of Spring) it was thought that the Western diatonic scale was the "natural" way to write music, along with the basic I-V or i-V chord progression.

Of course many Russian composers started to work outside of these boundaries starting in the late 19th century, and Stravinsky basically proved that the only reason Western musical theory seems "right" is because the format hadn't changed for thousands of years. Through repetition of his "discordant" techniques, audiences learned to enjoy his rhythms and harmonies. (Not of course, without a riot.)

If you'd like a better explanation, read the section on Stravinsky in the book Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer.

EDIT: Didn't really read your question, so here's a lot of kind of irrelevant information.