Description: On the eve of his 40th birthday, a professor of no discernible musical talentlearns to play the guitar and investigates how anyone of any age might mastera new skill.
Review Quotes: "Jimi Hendrix meets Oliver Sacks in this great new science book." -- VeryShortList.com
"Guitar Zero is a refreshing alternation between the nitty-gritty details of learning rock-guitar licks and Mr. Marcus's survey of the relevant scientific literature on learning and the brain . . . makes some delightful counterintuitive fine points. . . . For those who look forward, in 'retirement, ' to honoring the lifelong yearnings they have neglected, Guitar Zero is good news."
-- Norman Doidge, The Wall Street Journal"[Guitar Zero is] the sort of book where Steven Pinker (Dr. Marcus's mentor and collaborator) mixes with K. Anders Ericsson (the psychologist most associated with the '10,000 hours' theory of expertise) and Tom Morello (the lead guitarist from Rage Against the Machine)."
-- The New York Times"This book in the end is about more than a desire to shred like Eddie Van Halen. Marcus examines how our brains are affected by creativity--learning a musical instrument, for instance, or a new language--and how these experiences remain open to all of us, no matter our age."
-- Los Angeles Times "An entertaining and enlightening memoir, filled with insight about music, learning, and the human mind, by Gary Marcus, one of the deepest thinkers in cognitive science."-- Steven Pinker, bestselling author of The Better Angels of Our Nature