In Words and Music: a History of Pop in the Shape of a City (pounds 12.99 Bloomsbury), the critic Paul Morley takes a personal journey through the history of pop music, from the second century BC to 2003: a 2,000-year development that has seen the human voice make way for the electronic reediness of the vocoder, 78rpm shellac discs replaced by MP3, and the heat of early 20th-century Modernism become 21st-century chill-out.

The "Shape of a City" subtitle comes from the book's narrative conceit, which uses Kylie Minogue as both a guide and a personification of the pleasures of pop. While she drives through an industrial landscape, making the video for her single "I Can't Get You Out of My Head", she morphs in and out of time, meeting "strangers with interesting stories to tell". Morley will be in conversation about the book with Factory founder and broadcaster Tony Wilson in Manchester, and talking solo in Glasgow.

Tiger Tiger, Printworks, Manchester (0161-839 4223) Thur, 7pm, pounds 2; Borders, Buchanan St, Glasgow (0141-222 7700) Fri, 6pm, free

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