by Oliver Sacks
from Knopf Canada
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Editorial ReviewWhat goes on in human beings when they make or listen to music? What is it about music, what gives it such peculiar power over us, power delectable and beneficent for the most part, but also capable of uncontrollable and sometimes destructive force? Music has no concepts, it lacks images; it has no power of representation, it has no relation to the world. And yet it is evident in all of us-we tap our feet, we keep time, hum, sing, conduct music, mirror the melodic contours and feelings of what we hear in our movements and expressions.
In this book, Oliver Sacks explores the power music wields over us-a power that sometimes we control and at other times don't. He explores, in his inimitable fashion, how it can provide access to otherwise unreachable emotional states, how it can revivify neurological avenues that have been frozen, evoke memories of earlier, lost events or states or bring those with neurological disorders back to a time when the world was much richer.
This is a book that explores, like no other, the myriad dimensions of our experience of and with music. 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
Customer Reviews:
- Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
- A deeply intelligent, loving book.
Dr. Sacks has written a book that is astounding in its depth and love for humanity, his patients, the mysteries of life and music the great connector of us all. Music, how we each perceive it and it effects us. The stories in this book amaze and awaken us to the marvels of the brain, our wiring, science and possibility.
- Tales and more tales of music and the brain
I should have read the title of the book more carefully, since this book is exactly what it claims to be: a compilation of tales (on average more than 10 per chapter), most of the times lacking the neuroscientific explanations that I was looking for.
I will summarize one anecdote to exemplify what I mean: "Florence Foster Jenkins, a corolatura that attracted a sell-out audience to Carnegie Hall (...) would sing notes that were excruciatingly wrong, flat, even screechy (...) without realizing that she... more info
- Musicophilia: Reviewed
This book further detailed the fascination with music's neurological connection. Why do some people have a natural talent and others don't? Absolute pitch, musical savants, 'seeing' music, memory training, and gained/lost musical abilities from accidents/health issues/etc are a few of the many topics Sacks addresses. The majority of the book are case reviews from the author's various patients & studies. There are definitely some cases that feel repetitive (Okay great...another story about another guy... more info
- Man, the musical animal
Sacks does it again, merging clinical precision with insight and real affection for his patients. This time, he explores the biological foundations of music as a human experience. It turns out that music runs deep in the human brain and mind, as it does in possibly no other species. In his medical practice, Sacks has seen how music can heal, as in some Parkison's and psychiatric patients, or even harm, in rare cases where its rhythms can trigger seizures. It can reach in to patients blocked from normal... more info
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