Musicophilia : Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks

Description

“Musicophilia is a compassionate and inquisitive study about the pathologies of musical response and what they might teach us about a ‘normal’ faculty of music. This clinical, anecdotal and psychological approach is written with clarity to make it utterly readable and emotive.” Carrie

Oliver Sacks’ compassionate tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we think of our own minds. In Musicophilia, he examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians and everyday people – those struck by affliction, unusual talent and even, in one case, by lightning – to show not only that music occupies more areas of our brain than language does, but also that it can torment, calm, organize and heal.

Always wise and compellingly readable, these stories alter our conception of who we are and how we function, and show us an essential part of what it is to be human.