Musicophilia - Oliver Sacks

Musicophilia

By Oliver Sacks

  • Release Date: 2007-10-16
  • Genre: Psychology
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 29 Ratings

Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • 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.

“Powerful and compassionate. . . . A book that not only contributes to our understanding of the elusive magic of music but also illuminates the strange workings, and misfirings, of the human mind.” —The New York Times


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.

Reviews

  • Oliver sacks is brilliant

    5
    By thetriskit
    Unique case studies and insightful commentary by an authority on illness in the brain, through higher education and practice as well as personal experience. Oliver Sacks is one of my favorite authors.

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