--- product_id: 310121661 title: "The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth – A BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week'" price: "¥11310" currency: JPY in_stock: true reviews_count: 10 url: https://www.desertcart.jp/products/310121661-the-musical-human-a-history-of-life-on-earth-bbc store_origin: JP region: Japan --- # The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth – A BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week' **Price:** ¥11310 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth – A BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week' - **How much does it cost?** ¥11310 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.jp](https://www.desertcart.jp/products/310121661-the-musical-human-a-history-of-life-on-earth-bbc) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description "Michael Spitzer has pulled off the impossible: a Guns, Germs and Steel for music." --Daniel Levitin A colossal history spanning cultures, time, and space to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the human species. 165 million years ago saw the birth of rhythm. 66 million years ago was the first melody. 40 thousand years ago Homo sapiens created the first musical instrument. Today music fills our lives. How we have created, performed and listened to this music throughout history has defined what our species is and how we understand who we are. Yet music is an overlooked part of our origin story. The Musical Human takes us on an exhilarating journey across the ages – from Bach to BTS and back – to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the human species. With insights from a wealth of disciplines, world-leading musicologist Michael Spitzer renders a global history of music on the widest possible canvas, looking at music in our everyday lives; music in world history; and music in evolution, from insects to apes, humans to AI. Through this journey we begin to understand how music is central to the distinctly human experiences of cognition, feeling and even biology, both widening and closing the evolutionary gaps between ourselves and animals in surprising ways. The Musical Human boldly puts the case that music is the most important thing we ever did; it is a fundamental part of what makes us human. Review: A trailblazing book about music - "The Musical Human" is the first book for general readers to comprehensively explore music's extraordinary diversity across world cultures. Exhaustively researched and beautifully written, Spitzer's text documents how music creates the soundtrack for human life in a multitude of ways. In a field with few ancient artifacts--it's hard to know what the music of the remote past sounded like--his speculations about music's biological and cultural roots are probing and informative. Daring, poetic, and mind-opening--a major achievement, enthusiastically recommended. Review: A well-written book of prodigious scholarship - Amazing synthesis of ideas from lots of different places. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,070,226 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #895 in General Anthropology #1,146 in History of Civilization & Culture #1,277 in Music History & Criticism (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 172 Reviews | ## Images ![The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth – A BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week' - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91Erh+4E5uL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A trailblazing book about music *by A***T on October 15, 2024* "The Musical Human" is the first book for general readers to comprehensively explore music's extraordinary diversity across world cultures. Exhaustively researched and beautifully written, Spitzer's text documents how music creates the soundtrack for human life in a multitude of ways. In a field with few ancient artifacts--it's hard to know what the music of the remote past sounded like--his speculations about music's biological and cultural roots are probing and informative. Daring, poetic, and mind-opening--a major achievement, enthusiastically recommended. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A well-written book of prodigious scholarship *by R***I on August 15, 2021* Amazing synthesis of ideas from lots of different places. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Is a puzzlement *by S***E on May 30, 2021* 1. “Mimesis is what music does with one foot in biology and another in religion.” (p. 124) What does this mean? Does it mean anything? 2. “Reducing music to fractal self-similarity profiles a remainder, everything that is left out.” (p. 364) This seems to mean even less, though it seeks profundity via Mandelbrot sets. 3. “Ornament, taste and colour represent paths not taken by Western music.” (p. 211) If this means anything, it seems patently wrong. 4. “playing a very high note on a piano doesn’t require any more effort than playing a low one.” (p. 105) Actually, it requires less effort, something Spitzer, who is an accomplished pianist, certainly knows. 5. “Winterreise (A Winter’s Journey)” (p. 108) The original poems by Wilhelm Müller were published under the title Die Winterreise, The Winter Journey. Schubert removed the article to make his song cycle more general. If he wanted it to be about a single winter journey, he would have changed the article to Eine. He didn’t, he omitted it entirely, the correct translation being Winter Journey. This is not a bit of trivia, there is a significant literature about it, and it is surprising that a professor of music writing about Schubert seems unaware of it. 6. Then there is the ultimate howler: “The top A at the end of Nessun dorma.” (p. 111). This is the note which the author claims Pavarotti held longer than Puccini notated in order to thrill the audience. There are a couple of problems with this statement. For an operatic tenor, a “top A” is not a very high note and unlikely to thrill an audience out of its seats. In fact, the high note in Nessun dorma, the aria from Puccini’s Turandot with which Pavarotti, and other tenors, did and do indeed thrill their audiences, is a whole note higher; it’s a B. It must be the most famous note in all of opera, and Spitzer gets it wrong. So, here is my problem with this book. It contains a lot of material, in particular about obscure tribes and their music, with which I am unfamiliar. If the author gets things I know wrong, how can I be confident in the accuracy of what I know nothing about? As the king says in The King and I, is a puzzlement. So why 4 stars? Because there is an enormous amount of fascinating material in this book with copious notes for those who wish to explore topics further. Perhaps the real culprit is the copy editor, maybe he or she decided A was high enough and added the article to Winterreise. Surely the author deserves an A for effort. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.jp/products/310121661-the-musical-human-a-history-of-life-on-earth-bbc](https://www.desertcart.jp/products/310121661-the-musical-human-a-history-of-life-on-earth-bbc) --- *Product available on Desertcart Japan* *Store origin: JP* *Last updated: 2026-09-15*