Words Without Music

"Read this memoir for a glimpse of a vanished country... that valued [education and the arts]."

"Have you ever hung out with Philip Glass, just casually chatting in his living room? I haven’t either, but you certainly feel like it while reading his autobiography. In warm, conversational tones, the famed composer of Einstein on the Beach unspools his remarkable life, from working in his father’s Baltimore record shop to discovering his personal brand of minimalism (“process replaced narrative”) to his enlightened studies with Ravi Shankar. In loving detail, the book also documents the fecund Lower Manhattan arts scene of the 1960s, when dance, visual arts and music commingled to create a vibrancy still potent today."

"Philip Glass's memoir, "Words Without Music," had a powerful effect on me — made me resolve to believe in the power of art more fully and be less hesitant to take chances."