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Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
by Oliver Sacks

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain Cover

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Powells.com Staff Pick

Musicophilia is a fascinating look at music and its effects on our brains. Who but Oliver Sacks could make such a compulsively readable book?
Recommended by Beth, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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, andunforgettable, and in Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks tells us why.

Review:

"Sacks is an unparalleled chronicler of modern medicine, and fans of his work will find much to enjoy when he turns his prodigious talent for observation to music and its relationship to the brain. The subtitle aptly frames the book as a series of medical case studies — some in-depth, some abruptly short. The tales themselves range from the relatively mundane (a song that gets stuck on a continuing loop in one's mind) through the uncommon (Tourette's or Parkinson's patients whose symptoms are calmed by particular kinds of music) to the outright startling (a man struck by lightning subsequently developed a newfound passion and talent for the concert piano). In this latest collection, Sacks introduces new and fascinating characters, while also touching on the role of music in some of his classic cases (the man who mistook his wife for a hat makes a brief appearance). Though at times the narrative meanders, drawing connections through juxtaposition while leaving broader theories to be inferred by the reader, the result is greater than the sum of its parts. This book leaves one a little more attuned to the remarkable complexity of human beings, and a bit more conscious of the role of music in our lives." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Book News Annotation:

Sacks's own enthusiasm about the complex workings of the human mind (he teaches clinical neurology and psychiatry at Columbia U.) becomes infectious in his writings. In this volume, he turns his attention to the many phenomena concerning music and the brain, relating the scientific explanations alongside numerous and compelling case studies. Sacks describes the effects of music--and different aspects of music--on ordinary individuals, musicians, and people who have had accidents or disabilities, in chapters on music and memory, musical hallucinations, music therapy, and perfect pitch, among other topics. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Review:

"Sacks portrays our innate propensity toward music as an overall plus — often therapeutic and occasionally a lifesaver." Los Angeles Times

Review:

"Sacks is not in the business of answers carved in stone....His ultimate gift to readers is a sustained sense of wonder at the enormous variability of individual human experience." Oregonian

Review:

"Sacks' tales...work their way beyond passionate personal appreciation of music toward potential uses with neurological conditions." Seattle Times

Review:

"Sacks is less interested in providing answers here than he is in creating awareness. While the stories Sacks relates are not as fantastical and colorful as in previous books, they are just as compelling." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Review:

"Pleasantly rollicking, but with a definite hint that the grand old man is taking it easy." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"Neurologist Sacks...charmingly argues that music is essential to being human in ways that have only begun to be understood....His customary erudition and fellow-feeling ensure that, no matter how clinical the discussion becomes, it remains, like the music of Mozart, accessible and congenial." Booklist

Review:

"A gifted writer and a neurologist, Sacks spins one fascinating tale after another to show what happens when music and the brain mix it up." Newsweek

Synopsis:

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. Here, he examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians, and everyday people.
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About the Author

Oliver Sacks is a physician and the author of nine previous books, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Awakenings (which inspired the Oscar-nominated film). He lives in New York City, where he is Professor of Clinical Neurology at Columbia University.
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Table of Contents

Preface

Part I: Haunted by Music

1. A Bolt from the Blue: Sudden Musicophilia

2. A Strangely Familiar Feeling: Musical Seizures

3. Fear of Music: Musicogenic Epilepsy

4. Music on the Brain: Imagery and Imagination

5. Brainworms, Sticky Music, and Catchy Tunes

6. Musical Hallucinations

Part II: A Range of Musicality

7. Sense and Sensibility: A Range of Musicality

8. Things Fall Apart: Amusia and Dysharmonia

9. Papa Blows His Nose in G: Absolute Pitch

10. Pitch Imperfect: Cochlear Amusia

11. In Living Stereo: Why We Have Two Ears

12. Two Thousand Operas: Musical Savants

13. An Auditory World: Music and Blindness

14. The Key of Clear Green: Synesthesia and Music

Part III: Memory, Movement, and Music

15. In the Moment: Music and Amnesia

16. Speech and Song: Aphasia and Music Therapy

17. Accidental Davening: Dyskinesia and Cantillation

18. Come Together: Music and Tourette’s Syndrome

19. Keeping Time: Rhythm and Movement

20. Kinetic Melody: Parkinson’s Disease and Music Therapy

21. Phantom Fingers: The Case of the One-Armed Pianist

22. Athletes of the Small Muscles: Musician’s Dystonia

Part IV: Emotion, Identity, and Music

23. Awake and Asleep: Musical Dreams

24. Seduction and Indifference

25. Lamentations: Music and Depression

26. The Case of Harry S.: Music and Emotion

27. Irrepressible: Music and the Temporal Lobes

28. A Hypermusical Species: Williams Syndrome

29. Music and Identity: Dementia and Music Therapy

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

Index

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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 6 comments:
colevalleymama, April 4, 2008 (view all comments by colevalleymama)
I've never been struck by lightining but sometimes driving to work I want to play my guitar so bad it hurts.
When I meditate I will hear whole songs that just seem to drift up into my consciousness. My mom played Chopin and all the classics on the piano when I was growing up, so I totally love music and now am interested in music therapy at the mid point in my life.
I took my guitar to work one day where I help care for the disabled and I played a spoof of "Take Me To the RIver " by Talking Heads and changed the words to relate it to one of my clients love of fishing, and his whole body relaxed as he laughed along with the song. I knew then that I wanted to help others relax with music.
My mom just told me about Dr. Sacks so I had to research him and music therapy connection. Thanks for the article!
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crowyhead, March 4, 2008 (view all comments by crowyhead)
This is a collection of Oliver Sacks's usual fascinating stories about human neurology and behavior, this time with music as its central focus. I very much enjoyed it, although in some ways I felt the title was a bit misleading -- it makes it sound like it is mainly about humans' love for music, when in reality that is only addressed by a small portion of the essays.
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K Bloom, December 24, 2007 (view all comments by K Bloom)
In his latest book, Oliver Sacks continues to tell us stories that draw us in, engaging our minds and emotions. In each chapter he introduces different people, some sorely affected by neurological disease, who have strange and profound relationships with music. This is not a dry scientific treatise. Sacks describes these people in a highly personal way, so that we see and feel the human aspect of science. At the same time he teaches us about the science of the brain, and the wonderful ways that music and the mind are intertwined. The subject is inherently fascinating, and the author does not disappoint. Drawing upon case histories from his own practice, and some from literature, he delves into the mysteries of the human brain, how it produces music, and how it is profoundly affected by it! I'd also recommend reading Tino Georgiou's bestselling novel--The Fates--if you haven't yet
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781400040810
Subtitle:
Tales of Music and the Brain
Author:
Sacks, Oliver
Publisher:
Knopf Publishing Group
Subject:
Creative Ability
Subject:
Art & Music Therapy
Subject:
Music
Subject:
Psychological aspects
Subject:
Neurology - General
Publication Date:
January 2007
Binding:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Pages:
400
Dimensions:
8.53x5.83x1.23 in. 1.30 lbs.
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