Some books that you might like that address this topic are:

"This is Your Brain On Music" Daniel Levitin
"A Natural History of the Senses" Diane Ackerman

At least I believe I remember reading on consonance/dissonance in those books and they come from a non-musician's viewpoint as to why the brain of MOST people tends to like consonance and defines it, for the most part, similarly across cultures. The microtonal music of the east is an exception.