Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (Hardcover)

~ Sacks Oliver (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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 doeshumans are a musical species. Oliver Sackss 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 peoplefrom 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 secondsfor 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 Parkinsons disease who cannot otherwise move, give words to stroke patients who cannot otherwise speak, and calm and organize people whose memories are ravaged by Alzheimers or amnesia. Music is irresistible, haunting, and unforgettable, and in Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks tells us why.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1ST edition (2007)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001JAVTKA
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #228,081 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and Easy To Read, August 9, 2009

By	Ruth M. Newton (Saskatchewan, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For anyone with an interest in music and/or neurology, Dr. Sacks is the one to read. And you don't have to be super-educated to enjoy his writing or to learn from it. I came away from this book with a lovely understanding of why I am the type of musical person I am. A great read. Thank you, Dr. Sacks.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The power of music!, April 27, 2009

By	Sahra Badou "Bibliophile" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

The brain is a strange machine. It is capable of so many outstanding feats. Yet we sometimes call such feats abnormal. Why? Couldn't it be that we, the ones without the ability to achieve such feats with our brain, are the ones who are abnormal?

Is music wired into us? Is music part of our DNA? This book will attempt to answer those questions. Suffice it to say that music occupies more areas of our brain than language does.

Some ancient cultures viewed music as the work of the devil. Like alcohol, music can intoxicate the soul and lead to sin. If music is truly wired into us, how could it be a sin?

This book explains the science of how music is wired into us. Some people are born with the gift (though we call it abnormal) of identifying different tunes and pitches. For example, some people can tune a piano by just using their ears, and without the use of external apparatus. Some people see music in color, and to them, we are abnormal for being unable to see it like them! Some people hear music that none of us can hear. It is as if they have their own radio station in their head.

Though some people are born with such gifts (they are hypermusical from birth), the majority of people acquire those gifts after a severe trauma or disease. To many, hearing music is a gift. Composers and musicians for example relish this gift. To others, though, constantly hearing music drives them insane. A surprising number of people acquire nonstop musical hallucinations that assault them night and day. To people with amusia, music sounds like the clattering of pots and pans. Can science find the switch to turn this internal music on and off?

Researchers are now concentrating on not why some people can hear `internal' music, but why the rest of us can't. Maybe new breakthrough will give us the ability to create new forms of music unheard off till this day! This will be a musicians dream!

Music is irresistible, mysterious, haunting, mesmerizing, and unforgettable, and in `Musicophilia,' Oliver Sacks tells us why.