Alex Ross has written a new essay collection Listen to This. His previous The Rest is Noise is superb.
Is there another music critic that can successfully unpick, for a non-musician, the shared origins of a chacona from the 1600s, the piano riff in Ray Charles Hit the Road Jack, the Crucifixus in Bach’s B-Minor Mass, Bob Dylan’s Simple Twist of Fate and the opening lament of Stravinsky’s ballet Orphée.
Time's Flow Stemmed 
>Dear Anthony,This is really good news. The Rest is Noise was the first book I bought on Kindle, and this was after I had read it from the library. I'm rereading it now. I saw the new book, but am trying to control spending, so didn't get it. But this reminds me to get it from my library. Thank you.shalom,Steven
>Steven – The second chapter, written for this collection of essays, is very fine.
>Thanks for alerting me to this, Anthony. We have The Rest is Noise (not that I've read that one yet – I'm the only one in the house that isn't a musician…).
>You are welcome, Jen. So far, I am enjoying it more than The Rest is Noise, which I thought very good but put it down half way through and have never picked it up again. I will though.