Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does-humans are a musical species.
Oliver Sacks's compassionate, compelling tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we think of our own brains, and of the human experience. In Musicophilia, he examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians, and everyday people-from a man who is struck by lightning and suddenly inspired to become a pianist at the age of forty-two, to an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth; from people with "amusia," to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans, to a man whose memory spans only seven seconds-for everything but music.
Our exquisite sensitivity to music can sometimes go wrong: Sacks explores how catchy tunes can subject us to hours of mental replay, and how a surprising number of people acquire nonstop musical hallucinations that assault them night and day. Yet far more frequently, music goes right: Sacks describes how music can animate people with Parkinson's disease who cannot otherwise move, give words to stroke patients who cannot otherwise speak, and calm and organize people whose memories are ravaged by Alzheimer's or amnesia.
Music is irresistible, haunting, and unforgettable, and in Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks tells us why.
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More About the Author
Oliver Sacks was born in London and educated in London, Oxford, California, and New York. He is professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University, and Columbia's first University Artist. He is the author of many books, including Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Musicophilia. His newest book, The Mind's Eye, will be published in October, 2010.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
155 of 160 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extraordinary!,
By medreader (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (Hardcover)
Musicophilia is an absolutely phenomenal book, and will be of interest to anyone fascinated by music, mysteries of the mind, and the human condition. Sacks covers 29 different topics, ranging from synesthesia, to musical hallucinations, to savants, and beyond. In each chapter, he introduces the topic through cases (his own and famous ones in the literature--neurological and classic fictional literature, that is!), always maintaining a deep engagement with the humanity of the subjects: what is it like for these individuals? how do they describe their talent or illness or condition? Sacks also speculates on the possible neurological bases for these fascinating scenarios. This is a real page-turner, beautifully and clearly written, and it will give readers a new respect for the special place of music in our psychology, as well as a deeper understanding of the range of what it is to be human. 20 stars!
194 of 211 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Music and its role in our lives,
By
This review is from: Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (Hardcover)
It is refreshing to see how a specialist still retains the ability to be marveled by the cases he sees in his office. Too often scientists get so blasé over their practice that they miss the finer human aspects of every case. Sacks leads the reader gently by hand, even while using neurological jargon, into amazing stories of patients who live through situation we would not have imagined. And they all involve music and how humans experience it.I believe this book is a must for musicians, who will probably acquire new understandings regarding the dimensions of their music in relation to their own brains.
153 of 166 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Music and Science were never so interesting,
By
This review is from: Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (Hardcover)
Dr. Oliver Sacks is a British neurologist with a love of music and science. This book blends music and science together like no book I've ever read. There are some amazing stories here. I love the story of surgeon Tony Cicoria who developed a passion for listening and playing music after he was struck by lightning. The story of British conductor Clive Wearing is amazing too. He developed amnesia after his brain became inflammed. He has the the memory and ability to conduct and sing music, but he can't remember anything else. I also loved the story the research chemist named Salimah. Her shy personality was changed after she suffered a seizure. She suddenly had the desire to listen to music all the time. I also touched by the story of Woody Geist. He suffers from Alzheimers disease, but he still performs in an a cappella singing group. Leon Fleisher is a classical piano player who performed with one hand for many years because of a condition called dystonia which affected his right hand. I learned about a genetic disorder called Williams Syndrome in this book. Kids with Williams Syndrome have difficulty paying attention, but they often possess a love for music. I was entertained and informed by this book so much.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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musical synesthesia, van bloss, rhythm deafness, musical hallucinations, color synesthesia, savant talents, musicogenic epilepsy, halluci nations, musical imagery, hal lucinations, absolute pitch, hallucina tions, thousand operas, musical savants, musical dreams Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Hypermusical Species Williams Syndrome, Blue Sudden Musicophilia, Papa Blows His Nose, Beth Abraham, Pitch Imperfect Cochlear Amusia, Range of Musicality, The Oxford Companion, New York, Mary Ellen, Kitty Stiles, Athletes of the Small Muscles Dystonia, Fear of Music Musicogenic Epilepsy, Two Thousand Operas Musical Savants, Michael Torke, Daniel Levitin, Gloria Lenhoff, Darold Treffert, Ursula Bellugi, Blind Tom, Anthony Storr, Carnegie Hall, Clive Wearing, The Case of Harry, Fischer Dieskau, Hughlings Jackson Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
musical synesthesia, van bloss, rhythm deafness, musical hallucinations, color synesthesia, savant talents, musicogenic epilepsy, halluci nations, musical imagery, hal lucinations, absolute pitch, hallucina tions, thousand operas, musical savants, musical dreams Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Hypermusical Species Williams Syndrome, Blue Sudden Musicophilia, Papa Blows His Nose, Beth Abraham, Pitch Imperfect Cochlear Amusia, Range of Musicality, The Oxford Companion, New York, Mary Ellen, Kitty Stiles, Athletes of the Small Muscles Dystonia, Fear of Music Musicogenic Epilepsy, Two Thousand Operas Musical Savants, Michael Torke, Daniel Levitin, Gloria Lenhoff, Darold Treffert, Ursula Bellugi, Blind Tom, Anthony Storr, Carnegie Hall, Clive Wearing, The Case of Harry, Fischer Dieskau, Hughlings Jackson Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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