A curious book that will change your relationship with the heard world

In Listen, Michel Faber's lifelong passion for music culminates in an intriguing exploration of two big questions: how we listen to music and why we listen to music. He muses on the notion of 'cool', delves into the rich lodes of commercial and aesthetic worth and interviews a panoply of people who experience music in different ways, unlocking some surprising answers.

A beautifully written paean to music . . . the best book of its type since Alex Ross's The Rest Is Noise * * Observer * *
A series of finely tuned observations formed from personal memories, nuggets of neuroscience and interviews with musical luminaries * * Guardian * *
Fresh . . . Unlike any music book I have read. Often very funny as well as piercingly acute * * Scotsman * *
Michel Faber wrote this book just for you -- ROBERT FRIPP
Praise for Michel Faber: Faber's writing is so dizzyingly accomplished -- KATHRYN HUGHES * * Guardian * *
You are unlikely to regret a single hour, day or month spent in Faber's diverting, exuberant and intelligent company * * Financial Times * *
A truly gifted writer, an addictive storyteller with a nuanced command of language * * Literary Review * *
Faber writes superbly * * Sunday Times * *
Faber has shown that he can write in a breathtakingly wide range of styles * * Scotsman * *

Michel Faber is the award-winning author of seven novels, three short-story collections and a poetry book. In addition to the Whitbread-shortlisted Under the Skin, he is the author of the highly acclaimed The Crimson Petal and the White and The Book of Strange New Things, which was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and won the Saltire Book of the Year Award. Born in Holland, brought up in Australia, he now lives in the UK.