A holistic view of geospatial data and analysis across the risk management lifecycleGeospatial data and analytical tools are widely used for disaster management, insurance, humanitarian response, and defence—yet methodologies remain siloed. Geographic Perspectives on Disaster Risk Management, written by a team of experienced practitioners in catastrophe risk analytics and geospatial studies, connects these sectors by comparing approaches, identifying commo...

This book provides a broad introduction to the scientific and psychological study of music, exploring how music is processed by our brains, affects us emotionally, shapes our personal and cultural identities, and can be used in therapeutic and educational contexts.Why are some people unable to carry a tune while others are musical savants? What do our musical preferences say about our personality and the culture in which we were raised? Why do certain songs remind ...

This definitive reference resource examines how music affects human beings and their interactions in and with the world. The interdisciplinary nature of the work provides a starting place for students to situate the status of music within the social sciences in fields such as anthropology, communications, psychology, linguistics, sociology, sports, political science and economics, as well as biology and the health sciences.Features:Approximately 450 a...

I grew up on my mother’s stories. Although an Irish woman of small stature and imaginative mind, stories didn’t come any ‘taller’ than those tales told by my mother. They would stretch the bounds of one’s credulity beyond the realms of possibility, and yet, she always made me ‘want to believe them’. I have taken the germ of her fact and added a bit of my fiction with a dash of author licence. ‘The Priest’s Calling Card’ is about a Portlaw Priest who leaves his walking stick outside any hou...

I grew up on my mother’s stories. Although an Irish woman of small stature and imaginative mind, stories didn’t come any ‘taller’ than those tales told by my mother. They would stretch the bounds of one’s credulity beyond the realms of possibility, and yet, she always made me ‘want to believe them’. I have taken the germ of her fact and added a bit of my fiction with a dash of author licence. This third volume of ‘Tales from Portlaw’, ‘Bigger and Better’ is about a Portlaw boy with stunted...

In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music—its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it—and the human brain.Taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin poses that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ...

In this groundbreaking classic, a leading psychologist argues that there are many human intelligences**.**"Brilliant." —New York Review of BooksWhen we call someone “intelligent,” we are often referring to traits like their high SAT score, their performance on an IQ test, or their ability to perform in today’s schools—which prioritize linguistic and mathematical abilities. Traits like these underli...

From Bach fugues to Indonesian gamelan, from nursery rhymes to rock, music has cast its light into every corner of human culture. But why music excites such deep passions, and how we make sense of musical sound at all, are questions that have until recently remained unanswered. Now in The Music Instinct, award-winning writer Philip Ball provides the first comprehensive, accessible survey of what is known--and still unknown--about how music works its magic, and why, as much as eating and sl...

What is it that accounts for the differences between musical beginners, advanced music makers, and world class performers? Virtually everyone likes music and has the capacity to be musical in some way (despite what some may say about themselves). Yet far fewer people come to be so involved with it that they identify themselves as musicians, and fewer still become musicians of international class. Psychology for Musicians provides the basis for answering this question. Examining th...

The award-winning creator of the acclaimed documentary "The MusicInstinct: Science & Song," explores the power of music and itsconnection to the body, the brain, and the world of nature. Onlyrecently has science sought in earnest to understand and explain thisimpact. One remarkable recent study, analyzing the cries of newborns,shows that infants' cries contain common musical intervals, and childrentease each other in specific, singsong ways no matt...

"Genius 101 makes for a great read on a centuries-old scientific puzzle - as well as a lively text on the wellsprings and manifestations of genius.Teresa M. Amabile, PhDThe Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business AdministrationHarvard Business School[A] clear and engaging summary of this mysterious and utterly important phenomenon written by arguably the world's expert on the topic. Nearly 30 years of Simonton's fascination an...

What type of practice makes a musician perfect? What sort of child is most likely to succeed on a musical instrument? What practice strategies yield the fastest improvement in skills such as sight-reading memorization and intonation? Scientific and psychological research can offer answers to these and other questions that musicians face every day. In The Science and Psychology of Music Performance Richard Parncutt and Gary McPherson assemble relevant current research findings and make them...