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Title details for Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks - Available

Musicophilia

Tales of Music and the Brain

by Oliver Sacks
John Lee
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
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. He 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, and unforgettable, and in MUSICOPHILIA, Oliver Sacks tells us why.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 16, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781415942680
      • File size: 320202 KB
      • Duration: 11:07:05

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      John Lee's rich, rolling baritone conveys the empirical enthusiasm and underlying compassion that are the foremost characteristics of neurologist Oliver Sacks's books. In his latest work, Sacks observes the magical ways patients experience music after undergoing some sort of neurological trauma: an amnesiac who cannot remember anything but Bach fugues, a psychoanalyst bedeviled by musical hallucinations, otherwise mute stroke victims whose only articulation comes through song. Sacks's penetrating and lyrical insights, as well as his warmth and sense of wonder, are captured by Lee in an inspired reading. The added bonus, particularly given the subject matter, is the deep resonance of Lee's voice and his gift for a storyteller's inflection--something akin to music itself. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 15, 2007
      Neurologist and professor Sacks, best known for his books Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, dedicates his latest effort to the relationship between music and unusual brain disorders. Embracing the notion that neurology is an inherently British phenomenon, foreign to the New World, Sacks's book is read by impeccably polished actor Prebble (PW's 2006 Narrator of the Year). As befitting so urbane and smooth a reader, Prebble sounds as if his shirt had just been starched and his lab coat carefully pressed before beginning. With nary a word out of place, Prebble steps onto the stage, playing the good Dr. Sacks for this one-time-only performance. Simultaneous release with the Knopf hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 27).

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Neurologist Sacks, author of the acclaimed AWAKENINGS and THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT, again mines his own medical practice and his wide knowledge of his specialty--this time in order to bring us "tales of music and the brain." The case studies included here illuminate the multifarious and often surprising ways in which music and the brain interact--whether for ill, as in a patient suffering from musical hallucinations, for example, or an obsession with music following an injury, or for good, as in Parkinson's patients and others who find themselves relieved or otherwise helped by music therapy. The narrator, British-born Simon Prebble, is a good choice for this material. (Sacks, too, is British.) The reading is clear and crisp, as is the production. M.G. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 27, 2007
      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.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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