The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolf.

A book about 'Raves' before there ever was such a thing. The 60's buzz in it's rawest form. Check it out, it's a great read.

shinya said:

"Electroshock" by Laurent Garnier is amazing book.

Its his autobiography, talking about born of - rave / second summer of love music scene, and how is evolved, from insiders view.

Not only good record/documentary of the heyday, but also a lot of passion into it.

not sure if its published in English though (for sure its in French and Japanese)

must check that out , never heard of it

Hasn`t secured publisher for English language release. He even tried Irish publishers.

Rip It Up And Start Again and Energy Flash both by Simon Reynolds are very good.

Music: The Business by Anne Harrison - very good insight into the technical workings of the business.

Young Gifted and Black - The story of Trojan Records.

Musicophelia http://www.musicophilia.com/
Heavy going, but very interesting. Haven't finished it yet, its too intimidating sometimes!

Alex Ross - The Rest Is Noise. About the history of classical music in the 20th century. He manages to make it really interesting; shows how much influence on modern music all these crazy composers have actually had.

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin

This is also a very interesting book on how we perceive music and the psychology behind it. It can be quite technical in parts but is a pretty rewarding read.

Cuba and it's Music: From the first drums to the Mambo

a history of Cuban music, which by necessity is also a history of Cuba, which is interesting in itself. but he also writes expertly on how African music has shaped modern music, really well written though it can be a bit academic at times

one interesting bit is where he claims that the modern rock n' roll star image comes from pimps in Moorish Spain