Transported: The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams

Summary

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.