Last month I initiated a discussion about film books.  Now I’m wondering about music books.  Following the template of the question from last time:

Which are the most inspirational five books about music ever written?

Here are my four — sadly, the scope of music books I’ve read and really enjoyed is so limited I haven’t got five that I can think of — so I’m super thrilled to get recommendations from you:

Michael Nyman – Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond
Alex Ross – The Rest is Noise
Paul D. Miller, ed. – Sound Unbound
Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman – No One Here Gets Out Alive