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Rating: 
Summary: pseudoscience worse than no-science
Review: Don Campbell is a gifted lecturer, lightweight and appealing, who deserves credit for his ability to present complex material in a palatable way. I have also enjoyed his metaphysical musings, like in the book "The roar of silence", replete with valuable exercises. But where this book goes wrong, is Campbell trying to fill us in on "the newest research on music", revealing Mozart`s music to be a Rosetta stone of healing, toilets that play Mary had a little lamb as treatment for incontinence, resonant music as a cure for diabetes, etc. Campbell has never undergone the first steps of the rigorous training anyone even dabbling in research has to undertake. Thus, when he refers "the latest research", his conclusions are his own, and would be decried even by the authors of the papers themselves - it sometimes seems that the frontpage eyecatch entertainment value takes priority over facts.
I think D. C. has written an entertaining and inspiring book. But he should have kept it at that (like Anthony Storr`s Music and the mind) and not mislead the public with confusing and distirted pictures of where science is at as regards music.
Rating: 
Summary: A powerful contribution explaining the power of music !
Review: Don has truly been a pioneer in the effects of music on mind, body, and spirit. His life has been focused on music, no doubt since his womb experiences! Don has been a personal friend and cohort in music with me for 15 years. Together we wrote "Rhythms of Learning", an educational book published by Zephyr Press. Don has spent years exploring and experimenting with sound both with thousands of people through his music institute, for his own growth, and with many leading-edge professionals in the field. His book is intended to present the spectrum of effects music has the power to create. It is intended to lead others to appreciate music more, and will, in fact, direct you to people in the field who can explain more about specific issues. I suggest you use it to inform yourself and as a resource for learning who has specialized in different music fields. In 300 or so pages you can only do so much so we can't expect it to fulfill all needs! If you desire to know more about research, this book will point you towards those who have more information for you. Read and enjoy this book--you will gain insights from it, I assure you!
Rating:
Summary: The musical references are a mess....
Review: I enjoyed reading this: it has sparked my imagination about the uses of music (my own doctoral degree is in musical performance). I like books of anecdotes, like this one, as light reading. Campbell introduces the field of music therapy in plain and simple language. I read about half of this while attending a family member in the hospital, and read the rest of it in odd moments before and after that. It gave me a few ideas about how to bring in music that could help the healing. But the "science" in this book is a mess (as other reviewers here have pointed out), and the musical references are even worse. There are so many errors of fact when Campbell refers to classical compositions and composers, it gave me serious doubt whether *any* of this book is actually well researched. Titles, dates, spelling, descriptions of the music...easily verifiable facts that are laugably wrong (for example, the author asserts that Ravel's "Bolero" accelerates). A competent editor should have caught those errors, and an author who really knows the field of classical music wouldn't have written them in the first place. The author is content to pull together material from everywhere, without synthesizing it into a coherent argument. That's the strength and the weakness here. This book is fluff, merely a popularized introduction to a field. Don't expect to find convincing scientific reasoning here, or to learn much about music. Just take the music-therapy anecdotes for what they're worth: occasional success stories where people's lives have been turned around by music. The author suggests that almost any form of music can be put to use in some situation or another to help someone through a difficult time, and that's a pretty obvious thing that one would know without reading this book. (If someone is not doing well, encourage participation in some music or movement that the person resonates with; this helps the body and spirit to heal themselves. The participation takes the mind off the pain, gives a more positive outlook to life, etc., etc....anyone can figure that out without reading this book.) Music therapy is an established field; check with the trained experts. This book merely suggests what might be possible. The most valuable thing here for me was seeing where some of the scientific researchers are looking. If I want to learn more about music therapy, Campbell has given me some useful leads in those directions.
Rating: 
Summary: Pseudoscientific garbage
Review: The fact that Don Campbell, on the basis of someone else's research, went out and TRADEMARKED the phrase "The Mozart Effect," should raise some red flags in and of itself. It should be obvious that Campbell took a 1993 study (that offered only the most tentative of conclusions) and piggybacked it onto the LEGITIMATE field of music therapy, all in order to make a quick buck. It does indeed seem to be working, judging from the vast array of Mozart Effect items that are readily available for purchase. The entire marketing empire rest upon the fallacy that "listening to Mozart will make you smarter." The original researchers reached no such conclusions, and have long since disavowed Don Campbell's claims. The most that could be said of the original research was that listening to classical music (in this case Mozart's Sonata for 2 Pianos K448 --- not one of his finer efforts, actually) may have helped the listener relax, which in turn may have boosted short-term performance. The results were short-term and have been very difficult to duplicate, but this has not stopped Don Campbell from making all manner of extravagant claims, none supported by scientific evidence that bears up under close scrutiny. If you are dumb enough to believe the "Mozart Effect" claims, then you could listen to Mozart 24/7 for the next couple of decades without seeing any notable improvement.
Rating:
Summary: Shameful nonsense
Review: There is no scientific basis for the "Mozart effect," none at all. Those seeking scientific papers thoroughly debunking this silliness will find them in The Biological Foundations of Music, published by the New York Academy of Sciences (ISBN 1-57331-307-6), which is currently out of print, but is probably available at your local library.
Music, the Brain and Ecstasy by Robert Jourdain is an excellent introduction to music cognition. Howard Goodall's Big Bangs and Dowling and Harwood's Music Cognition can be purchased used and will be appreciated by advanced musicians and novices alike.
Do not buy The Mozart Effect. It is a waste of your time and money, and is an insult to your intelligence.
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