I can't honestly say that I'm particularly musical. I was made to take piano lessons for a year or two as a child, and even I could tell, at the time, that my sense of timing was abysmal. I know what I like to listen to, and that's the extent of it. But, you know, I'm trying to read more broadly, and about things I'm unfamiliar with, and that's why I read this. I open my review with this acknowledgement of ignorance, however, because there's clearly something I'm not getting. Cage is supposed to be a giant in the field, and that assessment has been made by those more competent than me. But frankly I understood very little of it. I was interested in places, but never very deeply or for very long. It is perfectly possible that, had I more musical knowledge, this challenging book would have left a greater and more accurate impression. Instead, I was left both with an increased awareness of my own ignorance, and an inescapable whiff of the Emperor's New Clothes. Simultaneously, those impressions were an uncomfortable mix. In a nutshell: I'm sure it's not all bollocks, but am simply not qualified to judge, and not interested enough to read further. I finished the thing and that should be enough.