Transported: The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams

A revelatory work--grounded in the author's own pathbreaking research--that explores the capacity for meaning-making and connection through "musical daydreams."

We've all had the experience: a song comes on, and suddenly we're not where we were. We're back in the past, or living out a future that never happened, or imagining a scene that never existed. In Transported, Elizabeth Margulis explores the phenomenon of musical daydreams--the vivid, spontaneous, emotionally redolent scenes, 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 and feel. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience, psychology, ethnography, and revelations from her own teaching and research, Margulis debunks oversimplified myths and illuminates music's true potential to alleviate anxiety, reignite creativity, and foster connection.

At a time when distraction dominates, Transported makes a powerful case for music as one of the last realms where the mind is still free to wander.