Ross Duffin of Case Western University has come out with a wonderfully readable book on tunings called "How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and why you should care!"Reading about temperaments (tuning systems) can be dry and confusing, but professor Duffin brings the subject to life with a lively history and easy to understand explanations of the concepts involved.
Equal Temperament is what we are used to hearing today, with each octave being divided up into 12 equal sections. This allows a keyboard instrument to play equally out of tune in every key. In this book we learn that *unequal* tunings were actively used up until about 1917, by such luminaries as Bach, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, among others, despite the common belief that equal temperament had outmoded all others by the mid 18th century.
If you are at all interested in music, this book is a must read. It will open your mind (and your ears!)
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