101 Great Playlists: Songs for Every Listener was published as an e-book by Sterling Publishers/Fall River Press in August 2012. The title pretty much says it all: 101 lists of 10 to 25 tracks each, covering a wide range of musical styles, eras, moods, and themes. Every list comes with a brief prose explanation, and the introductory essay links my own personal history as a music lover with the book’s overall purpose——to ease the option anxiety of our media-saturated present. It’s my attempt to answer a question that seems to become more pressing by the day: “If you can listen to everything, then why listen to anything?”

You can find out more about the book and/or purchase it via Barnes & Noble or iTunes. And just to give you a hint of what’s on offer, here are three sample Spotify playlists that correspond, more or less, to lists in the book:

Britpop: Then and Later (divided into three parts: mid-’60s, late ’70s/early ’80s, and early-to-mid-’90s)
Curtis & Company (Curtis being Mayfield and company being the wide array of artists he worked with and/or influenced)
More Songs About Buildings and Food (exactly what the title suggests)