The first half of the book was interesting and kept my interest enough to read every word and scrutinze every example. However, by midway, the author's points became labored and needlessly exhaustive.
I guess it took me about half the book to find out what his general points were going to be. To me the book made connections between the nature of the universe and all things (particularly humans) in it.
I really wanted to closely scrutinize the chapters on sound (I am a musician and scientist). Unfortunately, by that last third of the book, I was too fatigued by the writing style. I ended up reading a few paragraphs in each section and skimming the rest, knowing (or making a logical guess) about the rest of the material. The author's basic points had already been made.
Furthermore, I felt unsatisfied by the author's overall treatment of art (particularly music). I was hoping for something more "insightful." It seems somehow self evident that particular sights and sounds are "appealing" to us given our physiology, evolution and their relationship to the nature of the universe itself. These arguments seem like tautologies; We like what we like because we are who we are. In the end, this isn't very interesting. On the other hand I could plead guilty to expecting too much.
There is more to art and music than meets the direct senses. When you try to explain what is "more" about music, you lose the meaning. Maybe the lesson is to just play the music and let it speak for itself. If the author was trying to make this point (indirectly) it is now very well taken. It's better to explain the beauty of music with selections of Joco Pastorius...
Finally, I thought the book was in places too human centric. Clearly books are intended to be read by humans. But I thought some of the author's points of view bordered on saying human animals were somehow more "important" than others. The universe doesn't make conscious choices to anoint one animal over another. Those evaluations are (too often, unfortunately,) made by us, not nature. Free will does exist.
Given these points, I do think the book was worth reading and might even be suitable for a seminar. I took about 4 days to read the book, but maybe should have taken more time. Anyway, at best, I think this book is worth 3 stars; Not bad, not great, but worth reading and discussing with others.
