In Transported (Liveright), acclaimed music cognition researcher Elizabeth Margulis explores the phenomenon of musical daydreams

“A fascinating exploration of the mysterious and important connection between music and daydreams, and a deeply enjoyable path toward understanding what imbues music with its undeniable power.” -Béla Fleck

In Transported (Liveright), acclaimed music cognition researcher Elizabeth Margulis explores the phenomenon of musical daydreams — the vivid, spontaneous, emotionally charged images, stories, and memories we lapse into while listening to music — and argues that these everyday reveries offer a powerful and underappreciated window into how we think, feel, and connect.

Combining cutting-edge neuroscience, psychology, ethnography, and revelations from her own teaching and pathbreaking research, Margulis shows not only that musical imaginings are widespread and meaningful — but also that daydreams that seem deeply personal are often widely shared.

At a time when attention is perpetually under siege, Transported makes a powerful case for music as one of the last spaces where the mind is still free to wander — and reminds us that these wanderings are more meaningful and more important to our individual and collective well-being than we’ve ever realized.

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Elizabeth Margulis is professor of music and director of the Music Cognition Lab at Princeton University. Her book On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind won the Wallace Berry Award from the Society for Music Theory. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey.