Amazon.com Review Amazon Best of the Month, December 2007: Legendary R&B icon Ray Charles claimed that he was "born with music inside me," and neurologist Oliver Sacks believes Ray may have been right. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain examines the extreme effects of music on the human brain and how lives can be utterly transformed by the simplest of harmonies. With clinical studies covering the tragic (individuals afflicted by an inability to connect with any melody) and triumphant (Alzheimer's patients who find order and comfort through music), Sacks provides an erudite look at the notion that humans are truly a "musical species." --Dave Callanan
Product Description Revised and Expanded
With the same trademark compassion and erudition he brought to The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human condition. In Musicophilia, he shows us a variety of what he calls “musical misalignments.” Among them: a man struck by lightning who suddenly desires to become a pianist at the age of forty-two; an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth; people with “amusia,” to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans; and a man whose memory spans only seven seconds-for everything but music.
Illuminating, inspiring, and utterly unforgettable, Musicophilia is Oliver Sacks' latest masterpiece.
Great story tellerMarch 11, 2010 Janna Kisner(Pennsylvania) Loved this book. What a great story teller. Memorable. Inspiring. Mysterious. Intersecting neuroscience, music, and storytelling. Good index.
Humanity: The Musical SpeciesMarch 1, 2010 Valerie J. Saturen(Tacoma, WA) In this absolutely fascinating book, renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks explores the musical side of the human brain. It seems, in fact, that we are uniquely hardwired to respond to music, which moves us, inspires us, and heals us in a way nothing else can. It activates the emotion, memory, movement, and at times even the visual centers of our brains. What's more, we're so "attuned" to it that our minds reproduce it with astonishing precision (sometimes very much against our own wishes!).
Of course, we often learn the most about the ordinary workings of the mind by studying those exceptional and extraordinary cases in which the mind behaves differently. Sacks sensitively relates numerous stories of patients who respond uniquely to music: a previously unmusical man who becomes a music-obsessed virtuoso after being struck by lightening; a patient with a memory of just a few seconds, except when it comes to music; people whose synesthesia makes music a "three dimensional" experience involving vision, smell, or taste; and many more. There are Parkinson's patients who become gracefully animated by song; dementia sufferers for whom music holds mnemonic power; aphasic patients who cannot talk but are quite able to sing; autistic savants; people gifted with absolute pitch; and those with amusia, a condition in which the individual hears music perfectly but can't "make sense" of it. Additionally, Sacks writes about Williams syndrome, a genetic condition causing severe mathematical and spatial deficiencies complemented by great gifts in social sensitivity, verbal communication, and above all, music.
Sacks' erudite yet accessible science writing is thoroughly engaging. His own love for music shines through in MUSICOPHILIA, which makes it even more of a joy to read. This book will hook you like a catchy pop song, and you won't be able to put it down.
Book sells itselfFebruary 5, 2010 A. Spencer Covers every last aspect of how music can effect the body. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in neurology as well as anyone who is a very passionate music lover.
Engaging readFebruary 4, 2010 Karin Norgard(Anchorage, Alaska, USA) Musicophilia offers an inside look into the lives of people who experience music in atypical ways, from those who have heightened abilities and sensitivities to music to those with a partial or total lack of musical receptivity. Engaging stories about people with William's syndrome, Alzheimers, autism, synesthesia, amusia, etc., oftentimes in their own words, provide really unique insight into how we process and experience music and just how multi-faceted these processes and experiences really are. I give this book four stars instead of five only because the book is nearly 400 pages long, which makes it feel a bit like a marathon towards the end. But the various stories don't feel repetitive; on the contrary, they provide a very good overview of the varieties of musical experience. I am sure for others who have had experiences similar to those included in this book will find great relief in knowing that there are others who have experienced the same thing. I definitely won't be taking my own musicality and musical experiences for granted anytime soon. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in music. A very accessible and engaging read.
Disappointing - no insightsJanuary 22, 2010 Oron Zachar 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book is just a collection of short documented field observations. The author does not provide any significant or thought provoking insights stemming from his experience. No questions are asked and hence no major answers are provided to anything. It is just psychology as curiosity and oddities of the human species. The author may be a compassionate therapist but not a deep thinking intellectual.
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
