Temperament: The Idea That Solved Music's Greatest Riddle

A decent look at the concept of musical temperament from a perspective that is more favorable to 12TET than some other books written on the subject. Isacoff generally does a good job explaining the conceptual foundations of differing tuning systems, though I take issue with some of the diagrams and mathematical formulas used.

The biggest issue with Temperament is that, at times, it seems resistant to actually discussing temperament. The book certainly picks up as at moves along, but I found certain chapters in the first half so frustrating that I considered returning the book to the library without finishing it. Analogies are useful for explaining abstract concepts, but in a book about temperament, I don't want to read entire chapters about what was going on among physicists, or painters, or architects. I get the sense that these passages were included to make the book more interesting to a general audience, but to be blunt, nobody save for hardcore music nerds was ever going to read a book about temperament, of all things.

The writing could have undergone some additional revision, too. Isacoff uses uncommon and frankly distracting words such as “lapidary,” yet he misuses more common words such as “comprised.” While I understand the historical necessity of naming so many figures, the number of names in the book is a bit dizzying as well.

Temperament is a fascinating subject, and I'm glad that this book exists, but a more focused text would have been better. While neither book is perfect, the flaws of Isacoff's book make me appreciate [b:How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony|3377679|How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and Why You Should Care)|Ross W. Duffin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348127190l/3377679.SX50.jpg|162549] more than I did previously. The two books complement each other decently for a reader who'd like a variety of perspectives on the subject.