Music:

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank
Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier
Written by Thad Carhart

Format: Trade Paperback, 304 pages
On Sale: March 12, 2002
Price: $14.00

Walking his two young children to school every morning, Thad Carhart passes an unassuming little storefront in his Paris neighborhood. Intrigued by its simple sign—Desforges Pianos—he enters, only to have his way barred by the shop’s imperious owner. Unable to stifle his curiosity, he finally lands the proper introduction, and a... Read more >

Journey of a Thousand Miles
My Story
Written by Lang Lang and David Ritz

Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
On Sale: July 15, 2008
Price: $24.95

“Number One” was a phrase my father—and, for that matter, my mother—repeated time and time again. It was a phrase spoken by my parents’ friends and by their friends’ children. Whenever adults discussed the great Chinese painters and sculptors from the ancient dynasties, there was always a single artist named as...

Read more >

Love Is a Mix Tape
Life and Loss, One Song at a Time
Written by Rob Sheffield

Format: Trade Paperback, 240 pages
On Sale: December 4, 2007
Price: $13.00

Mix tapes: We all have our favorites. Stick one into a deck, press play, and you’re instantly transported to another time in your life. For Rob Sheffield, that time was one of miraculous love and unbearable grief. A time that spanned seven years, it started when he met the girl of... Read more >

Rock and Roll Cage Match
Music's Greatest Rivalries, Decided
Written by Sean Manning

Format: Trade Paperback, 288 pages
On Sale: August 26, 2008
Price: $13.95

Music defines us. To return the favor, we’ll stick up with zealous passion for the performers and bands that we love . . . and heap aspersions and ridicule upon people who dare to place their allegiances above our own. In Rock and Roll Cage Match, today’s leading cultural critics, humorists... Read more >

Practicing
A Musician's Return to Music
Written by Glenn Kurtz

Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
On Sale: August 5, 2008
Price: $13.95

In a remarkable memoir written with insight and humor, Glenn Kurtz takes us from his first lessons at the age of eight to his acceptance at the elite New England Conservatory of Music. After graduation, he attempts a solo career in Vienna but soon realizes that he has neither the ego... Read more >

Heavy Metal Islam
Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam
Written by Mark LeVine

Format: Trade Paperback, 304 pages
On Sale: July 8, 2008
Price: $13.95

“We play heavy metal because our lives are heavy metal.”
—Reda Zine, one of the founders of the Moroccan heavy-metal scene

“Music is the weapon of the future.”
—Fela Kuti

An eighteen-year-old Moroccan who loves Black Sabbath. A twenty-two-year-old rapper from the Gaza Strip. A young Lebanese singer who quotes Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” They... Read more >

The Inner Game of Music

Written by Barry Green and W. Timothy Gallwey

Format: Hardcover, 240 pages
On Sale: February 21, 1986
Price: $24.95

By the best-selling co-author of Inner Tennis, here's a book designed to help  musicians overcome obstacles, help improve  concentration, and reduce nervousness, allowing them to  reach new levels of performing excellence and  musical artistry. Read more >

How to Read Music
Fundamentals of Music Notation Made Easy
Written by Roger Evans

Format: Trade Paperback, 112 pages
On Sale: April 25, 1995
Price: $11.95

A basic primer for anyone without musical training who wishes to learn to read musical scores when singing or taking up an instrument. The book explains how notes are named and written; how to read melody, interpret time signatures, keys, sharps, flats, and naturals; how to read tempo; and how to... Read more >

The Art of Practicing
A Guide to Making Music from the Heart
Written by Madeline Bruser
Foreword by Yehudi Menuhin

Format: Trade Paperback, 288 pages
On Sale: February 2, 1999
Price: $14.95

This landmark book enlightens amateur and professional musicians about a way of practicing that transforms a sometimes frustrating, monotonous, and overly strenuous labor into an exhilarating and rewarding experience. Acclaimed pianist and teacher Madeline Bruser combines physiological and meditative principles to help musicians release physical and mental tension and unleash their... Read more >

Shakey: Neil Young's Biography

Written by Jimmy McDonough

Format: Trade Paperback, 816 pages
On Sale: May 13, 2003
Price: $17.95

Neil Young is one of rock and roll’s most important and enigmatic figures, a legend from the sixties who is still hugely influential today. He has never granted a writer access to his inner life – until now. Based on six years of interviews with more than three hundred of Young’s... Read more >