Yeah, I was surprised. There's a whole genre of the sort about great scientists, interesting mathematical puzzles and the history of solving them, et cetera. I've always been baffled that I haven't been able to find the same kind of thing with regards to music -- it seems like it'd be a natural fit, and yet if anyone has written it I don't know it. I might ask my wider LJ... maybe someone has run into books of the sort!