What is music for? How does it work? What does it represent? What does it mean? In this brilliant and thought-provoking book which is now available in paperback, Robin Maconie examines these fundamental questions matching musical tradition and scientific knowledge to produce answers which are often unexpected, frequently inspired, and invariably illuminating. Drawing on a wealth of evidence from the history of ideas, literature, and the arts, to classical physics and computer science, he argues with passion and humour for a fundamental reapprasial of music, not as mere entertainment, but as a medium of significant thought whose influence on the development of Western society has been profound.