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Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Oliver Sacks

3.92 · Rating details · 58,956 ratings · 2,414 reviews

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 co ...more

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Hardcover, 381 pages

Published October 16th 2007 by Knopf (first published 2007)

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Mar 08, 2015 Glenn Sumi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Have you ever experienced an “ear worm” – i.e., a melody “stuck” in your head? Have you ever found yourself humming or whistling a tune for no reason, then thought back to the lyrics or theme of that song and realized it had something to do with what’s on your mind? Have you ever tried to remember what letter comes after another in the alphabet and found yourself singing that “ABC” song from childhood?

Check, check and check.

All of these are explored in Musicophilia, a fascinating series of essay ...more

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Jan 06, 2008 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Sacks is, for me, a perfect meeting of a science writer and a writer of creative non-fiction. He has an equal interest in telling an affecting, human story and with exploring how (and why) the brain works. While lots of science writing is dry and objective (as it should be) and while mainstream feature writing often ignores the more complicated science stuff, Sacks is a rare talent who has a penchant for story telling and for explaining the newest research on the brain. He doesn’t condescend, an Sacks is, for me, a perfect meeting of a science writer and a writer of creative non-fiction. He has an equal interest in telling an affecting, human story and with exploring how (and why) the brain works. While lots of science writing is dry and objective (as it should be) and while mainstream feature writing often ignores the more complicated science stuff, Sacks is a rare talent who has a penchant for story telling and for explaining the newest research on the brain. He doesn’t condescend, and he doesn’t mind forming personal relationships with his subjects.

In Musicophilia, Sacks focuses on the mysterious and fascinating connection between music and the brain. Through studying musical oddities in patients, he hopes, we can hope to better understand our greater relationship with music - something that, although it is universal among cultures, doesn’t seem to have a clear function or origin.

For example, the book opens with a middle-aged man who is struck by lightening. He isn’t badly hurt, but since the accident, he’s been obsessed with the urge to play the piano. He’s never really played before or had an interest in music, but suddenly he’s up all night composing and trying to get better. Why has this happened? Why is unaffected except for this urge, which takes over his life? Brain scans show that his left frontal lobe has been damaged and Sacks hypothesizes that the left hemisphere of the brain might actually inhibit the more creative and musical right side of the brain. Left brain damage might lead to more “freedom” in the right brain.

The book moves on from there to cover a huge spectrum of diseases, phenomenones, and rarities - spanning from music therapy for those with dementia and Alzheimer’s, to people who suffer from musical hallucinations, to people with perfect pitch, to people with amusica (to them, music sounds like noise - Nabokov suffered from it), to musical savants. The structures of the chapters are very satisfying to me: they start with a story of an individual and then, by the end of the segment, lead to a more general description of the science behind the patient’s symptoms.

One of the more fascinating chapters covers children with William’s Syndrome, which affects about one out of 10,000 people. These people, who all have strangely elfin features, suffer from severe mental disabilities: they can’t ad 5 + 3, they can’t draw a square, they can’t tie their shoes. They have IQs around 60. However, they also tend to be very verbal, very social, and exceptionally musical. Most have perfect pitch and start composing as toddlers. Unlike some cases of severe autism who show a more mechanical and isolated musical talent, patients with William’s Syndrome love to play music in groups - within a community. Sacks visits a camp for children with William’s Syndrome - which is a constant drum circle, sing-along, and musical wrapped up in one.

As in all of his tales, Sacks is sure to find the hope and humanity in even the most difficult patients. One man, an amnesiac who has a short-term memory of only a few seconds, can only stay present within himself while he plays the piano.

More importantly, Sacks doesn’t see his patients as freaks or abnormalities who are simply interesting to read about, but rather as windows into how we can collectively understand how we function. In Musicophilia, I was truly moved by what I read - both by the humanity of the patients and by the awesomeness of the science.
...more

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Nov 30, 2018 India M. Clamp rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Sacks relives the pathologies of musical response in his patients while working at Beth Abraham Hospital. He describes music as a panacea and says, “they were liberated by music.” This applies to patients with dementia and those suffering from Williams Syndrome. Despite low IQ, he honors them in kind descriptive terms: having wide mouths, upturned noses and a true adoration of music.

“We humans are a musical species no less than a linguistic one...we perceive tones, timbre, pitch intervals, melo ...more

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Jun 08, 2008 Jafar rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This book was interesting, I guess. Lots of anecdotes about the effect of music on behavior and personality, but not enough analysis. Sacks usually is more of a story teller than a hardcore neuroscientist in his popular book – at least in the other two that I’ve read by him – but in this book he fails to be a good story teller too. Too many tidbits and little stories. I definitely recommend This Is Your Brain on Music over this book if you’re interested in a real scientific analysis of music and ...more

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Mar 31, 2020 fourtriplezed rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: my-non-fiction

Music response
Music that triggers some kind of response
I have what you want, I have what you need

So sang the Chemical Brothers with what was the entire vocal and lyric content of their song Music: Response. With those three lines sang over and over again to a heavy dance laden beat they make a good soundtrack for the content of this good read on music and the brain. Author Oliver Sacks, I suspect, would not have known who The Chemical Brothers were but I think he would have understood the meanin Music response
Music that triggers some kind of response
I have what you want, I have what you need

So sang the Chemical Brothers with what was the entire vocal and lyric content of their song Music: Response. With those three lines sang over and over again to a heavy dance laden beat they make a good soundtrack for the content of this good read on music and the brain. Author Oliver Sacks, I suspect, would not have known who The Chemical Brothers were but I think he would have understood the meaning considering the depth of subject.

Music has played a huge part of my life. Not as a player, very poor 3 chord thrash as a youth was about it, but as a huge consumer. My parents had a diverse mix of classical and jazz for me to devour as a young boy. My mum’s sister was a Beatles fan and my dad’s brother was a musician of some ability who played Sax and Clarinet and even made it onto TV talent shows. My first recording purchased with my own pocket money was a 7” single, Coz I Luv You by Slade. I must have been 11 or 12. It has been a long journey to now paying via download my latest purchase (Sarah Mary Chadwick) such is the way we now procure music. As I say to anyone that asks, over the years my tastes have been truly eclectic, I listen to all genres and all artists, Abba to Zorn one might say.

When I purchased this book back on 24/2/2009 (the receipt was found tucked into the back page on finishing) I was ready to devour it. The trouble was I read Sacks’ more famous “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” first, a book I also had at that time. I did not enjoy Hat at all! It was dense in terminology, lacking in focus and with uninspiring writing did little to hold my attention. Hence this read was placed way back of the reading pack. So now started and finished I have to say that I have enjoyed this a little bit more than I expected to. The writing can still be a little uninspiring though the focus is obvious, a focus that is no bad thing for the likes of me.

Sacks’ covers a lot of territory. Why we may like, dislike or even be indifferent to music. Amnesia and Dementia and why those that suffer may have an affinity with music. Why at some gigs/concerts some musicians spend an inordinate amount of time tuning their instruments between just about every song. There are many interesting anecdotes. Clive Wearing suffered herpes encephalitis of the brain causing amnesia. Clive has been the subject of a documentary called “The Man With the Seven Second Memory”. I recommend looking at a youtube of Clive who has as little as 30 seconds memory at best, can hardly recall the subject of a sentence in discussion but then can still play the piano at a remarkable ability. Sacks thought that Clive had semantic memory as apposed in the absence of explicit and episodic memory but was not that sure. William’s Syndrome was another. I had to admit that I had never heard of this affliction but Sacks discussion and explanation was first rate.

In the end though, this will be my 2nd and last book by Sacks. As much as I have enjoyed this one I know it was the subject matter that was attractive. When getting into his own field of Neurology in explanation of his thoughts on the subject of music and the brain his writing was a little too dense for me. I understand that the subject matter needs certain scientific explanation but as a lay reader I did need to reread sentences a couple of times and internet search medical terms. The bibliography would be useful to the specialist in the field but not so much the layman such as I. Footnoted galore but then some of them are half a page long and as interesting as they can be at times it seemed more like he had footnoted an event he was keen to include in the narrative but knew not how. I do recommend this very interesting book though. If one is curious as to why music and the brain can work together in mysterious ways this will be more than useful.

My Personal Musical Extras.

As I wrote this review I was on forced leave due to the company I work for having its income collapse due to Corvid -19. Time will tell if I return. I hope I do as I enjoy my work. I have my own small office and have a 30 year old battered boom box in the corner to play CD’s on as background. Yes I could go digital but the monstrosity still works and I have so many CD’s from the old day. I packed up about 100 as I left work and then reflected on them, a mix of Classical from Beethoven and Mussorgsky to modern composers such as Glass and Nyman. Jazz was covered too with The Atlantic Years by John Coltrane through to a crazy set of compilation CD’s that I got in the 90’s for jazz in all its subvarieties. When I was in the mood for a certain genre I was covered. The very good Underworld got a serious play in the last week as they seemed perfect for the times, repetitious experimental beats that hit the mark while our office staff discussed our futures.

I work for a printing company and we have a few old Heidelberg cylinders. Whenever I had to go to the production factory they were clunking away in a never ending rhythm that had my brain singing along to whatever suited its 4/4 time. “I need it I don’t want it I need it I don’t want it I need it I don’t want it I need it I don’t want it I need it I don’t want it I need it I don’t want it” was the sound it sang to me on my last visit, a cadence for Mortiis black metal ambient tune called This Absolution. It seemed just right considering the circumstances.

Each evening after work I had always gone for a 30 minute walk. Headphones on, the music of choice had always had an atmospheric bent, Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil are just a couple of examples. Now with lockdown there are few reasons to leave the house though excuse is engaging alone for physical exercise. I now get out in the morning and walk for a couple of hours in a local forest. I have found that I do not want to listen to music. That is a strange feeling. I have realised that I needed the sound of the forest, the birds singing and the crunch of the path under my feet. No music seems to suit the present circumstances. This may be the first time in my life that I have felt like this. ...more

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Dec 22, 2010 Jason rated it really liked it

It’s not a common characteristic, but I recommend this book for all environments where you read. Coffee shop, living room, park bench, subway, or to ignore your spouse--it receives my seal of 4+ stars. Musicophilia is a lurid, but respectable, look into the brains and lives of people that appear normal on the outside, but have strong, strange and intractable relationships to music. The relationship is sometimes harmful, often incomprehensible, sometimes therapeutic, even charming, but always unf ...more

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Feb 27, 2009 Keith Putnam rated it it was ok

I am a huge sucker for pop science about human consciousness. Sacks, unfortunately, has the habit of boring me with far too many anecdotes which he fails to link in any progression of Greater Understanding.

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Feb 02, 2016 Lynne King rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century

I was flying forwards. Bewildered. I looked around. I saw my own body on the ground. I said to myself, ‘Oh shit, I’m dead.’ I saw people converging on the body. I saw a woman – she had been standing waiting to use the phone right behind me - position herself over my body, give it CPR … I floated up the stairs – my consciousness came with me. I saw my kids, had the realization that they would be okay. Then I was surrounded by a bluish-white light … an enormous feeling of well-being and peace. I was flying forwards. Bewildered. I looked around. I saw my own body on the ground. I said to myself, ‘Oh shit, I’m dead.’ I saw people converging on the body. I saw a woman – she had been standing waiting to use the phone right behind me - position herself over my body, give it CPR … I floated up the stairs – my consciousness came with me. I saw my kids, had the realization that they would be okay. Then I was surrounded by a bluish-white light … an enormous feeling of well-being and peace. The highest and lowest points of my life raced by me. No emotion associated with these … pure thought, pure ecstacy. I had the perception of accelerating, being drawn up … there was speed and direction. Then as I was saying to myself, ‘This is the most glorious feeling I have ever had’ – SLAM! I was back.”

I will never cease to be amazed by books. This above account was given by Tony Cicoria, forty-two, very fit and robust, and a well-regarded orthopedic surgeon in a small city in upstate New York. He survived an experience of being struck by lighning. He continued his work but from this time on he had the most incredible need to connect with music. He was subsequently divorced and continued with his incredible sudden love for music and composition.

I am not religious and I am not a believer, as such, but I know there is another life after death. I cannot describe it. It is certainly not faith but a certainty from what I have experienced during the last two years that tells me, yes, life continues after death. Many will believe that I am an absolute idiot but I really don’t care. We come from nothing (but there is no proof about this) indeed with birth, but we do indeed go to an illustrious future.

Oliver Sacks has made the most incredible research of people with neurological conditions and all of these case studies are riveting. You can literally pick up this book and look at whatever page and find something amazing. It is really a remarkable reference book and I was just so enthralled to see individuals with evidently insurmountable problems and yet who managed to overcome these through music.

Music is a wonderful thing and it indeed takes up a large part in our brain and so we must enjoy it. Well I do anyway.

It was fascinating when Sacks said that there are certain musical pieces that he has to listen to over and over again before he moves on to a new composer. I can so relate to that. I am on “overkill’ at the moment with Grieg and Sibelius but there are indeed other composers waiting in the wings to enthrall me. Music – my… What else can I possibly say!

I absolutely loved this book and continually look at it. It is in my library and there to stay.
...more

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Mar 05, 2017 Kelly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: occasionally-reading, philosophy-theory-criticism, owned, 21st-century, examined-lives, coming-soon-to-a-blog-near-you

This was unexpectedly touching. I'm glad I finally read it. Review to come. ...more

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Aug 22, 2008 Joshua Nomen-Mutatio rated it it was amazing

Shelves: neuroscience, music, cognitive-science-and-or-psychology

The neurologist Oliver Sacks has a great book called Musicophilia (and a series of talks available on YouTube) which goes into some really interesting descriptions of the brain's relationship to music. One story involves a man getting hit by lightning and afterward having a newly acquired and deeply profound love of music (almost any music, too), profound to the point that he would feel a euphoria akin to religio-mystical rapture or an extremely pleasurable drug experience in all situations if m ...more

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Mar 19, 2018 Don Gagnon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science, physiology, neuroscience, medicine, psychology, health, music, biology

Discovering Music’s Depth and Power . . .

In “Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain,” neurologist Oliver Sacks demonstrated the healing power of music. Through a series of fascinating narratives, the author--dubbed “poet laureate of medicine” by The New York Times--explored a variety of unique musical phenomena. Sharing observations and insights, Sachs revealed the nature of music and the roles music plays in the lives of individuals struggling with medical, psychological, and social issues. ...more

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Mar 02, 2008 Matt rated it it was amazing

Oliver Sacks has been one of my favorite authors ever since I first read The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat. I still completely amazed, and a little bit disturbed, when I think back to his account of the woman who lost her sense of proprioception - the internal body sense that lets you know your body is there, even when you have your eyes closed. No other author (since Proust) has explored the nuances of consciousness so carefully, nor pointed out how tenuous the our grip on reality can be.

I ...more

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Feb 12, 2019 A.G. Stranger rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

" All arts aspire to the condition of Music". Now, it's scientifically proven.( Not that it needed to.) ...more

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Nov 21, 2007 Bobby rated it it was ok

Shelves: did-not-finish

I really tried to perservere with this book, but after 100 pages I had to put it down. First, although marketed to a popular audience (even making it to the best sellers list), there are massive amounts of musical jargon and a background of musical knowledge would be extrememly helpful. Second, the books seemed to lack cohesive threads or narritive. I found it extremely disjointed with every few paragraphs changing to a different patient with very few being fully developed or resolved. Third, I ...more

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Jan 30, 2020 Andrew Howdle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Sacks writes (as ever) from the margins in an attempt to shed light on the centre of human existence. He infuses his case studies with empathy and humour. Starting from the scientific claim that music plays no part in human evolution, he raises the question of exaptation and a possibility that human health covers more than a forward looking sense of fitness . Music is not an aspect of survival, yet it plays a vital role in our mental survival. Sacks investigates the value of rhythm to humans wi ...more

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Oct 23, 2011 mai rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: music, science-medicine, didn-t-finish

part i: holy crap, this book so far is so fucking boring. let's give 500 examples that describe the exact same thing. zzzzZZZzzzZzZzZZ...i really hope it gets better. so far, the author is just introducing us to several different patients who exhibit the same or similar symptoms, doesn't discuss further and then just leaves us hanging. there's no in-depth explanation as to why these things are happening, we don't get to know the patients. it's interesting for a minute, and then after the 10th, 2 ...more

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Dec 15, 2014 Faye rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: just-plain-boring, 2014-reads, reviewed, 2-stars, non-fiction

2.5 stars

I am a music geek.

I play piano and I'm also taking a Music Theory Class right now. So I was really pumped to read a book about how music affects you.

But the thing is, all these concept aren't explored. I feel like too many topics were squeezed into one book. Even more, some of them are very repetitive. In this book, I've read in so many chapters about how people with certain disorders and illnesses have a special reaction to music. Yes, there are many diseases, but it just got really r ...more

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Mar 05, 2020 Audrey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, 2020-books

Sacks is a well-known neuroscientist, and I had previously read Seeing Voices by him, which was fascinating. As a musician and music teacher, I was interesting in this topic.

The book covers a variety of cases involving music’s effects on the brain. There’s the man who was struck by lightning and suddenly became obsessed with music. There are people with perfect pitch while others are tone deaf. But mostly music can be used as therapy for a variety of disorders. People with Tourette’s and Parkins ...more

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Feb 26, 2008 brian tanabe rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is my first oliver sacks -- I always meant to read the Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat but alas never got around to it.

I love mr. sacks' delightful anecdotal storytelling and his intellect that makes fresh and accessible the study of the brain. It *almost* makes the issues dealt with in the book pleasant.

In a nutshell, this book is about the power of music, backed by many accounts from the medical perspective of the interaction between music and the brain. It's hard to tell without a lot ...more

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Jan 06, 2008 liz rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I wasn't hugely impressed with this. Sacks's writing sometimes gets extremely dry as he goes into the technicalities of how the brain functions. I found his other books, with chapters each covering a variety of conditions ("Anthropologist on Mars," "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat"), to be much stronger, even though they were less consistent thematically. It seemed that at times Sacks had to stretch to find patients with some of the musical conditions he described -- not a good sign, sinc ...more

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Aug 10, 2015 Benjamin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

I get the feeling Oliver Sacks likes to reuse material. He retells the stories of his clients throughout his books, always with references to his other work. This isn't entirely bad, but I had to speed through some parts that were a tad bit repetitive. The subject matter is fascinating, and perfectly delivered for the layman(Which I happen to be). I have a newfound respect for the power of music therapy and music itself. ...more

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Jan 02, 2011 Malbadeen rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: couldnt-finish-it

Woooooooa!!! Heeeeeeey!!!! Look at me I'm Oliver Sacks and I'm tellin you some more wacky stuff about brains.

oh-la-la. I'm so fancy.

(interesting topic but I prefer the podcast interview to the book - which I was able to stick with through apx. chapter 6 before throwing in the towell. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...) ...more

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Dec 20, 2007 Alex rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Musicophelia is an enchanting read, though one is struck more by the phenomena depicted—amusias, musical hallucinations, comatose patients suddenly "awakened" by nothing more than a familiar melody—than the manner of their depiction. Sacks has always been lauded for his fluid, personable style, and for good reason, but in the wake of classics such as The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Uncle Tungsten, his writing seems excessively florid and repetitive—neither tight enough nor substantial ...more

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Nov 21, 2008 Aaron rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, science

Starts off with a fairly unsatisfying collection of anecdotes around loss or gain of musical ability. The real heft arrives halfway as Sacks starts pulling together the real research and making implications.

The message here is that music is not some frivolous side effect of our neurology. Rather, music is processed by dedicated machinery in our brains and can affect us in profound and surprising ways.

There are tantalising implications that humans have the capacity for much greater musical abilit ...more

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Nov 04, 2019 Cynda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2019, reading-mostly-nonfiction-2019, science, health

I revisited this book before returning it to the library--and made a different assessment of the book.

This book was first published in 2007, a time when much was not yet known about music and the brain. First come the antedotal, a good amount Sacks has recorded here. Then comes the first assessments, a good many Sacks has written about here. Among other topics Sacks describes the connection between various medical conditions and music, including

Cochlear damage
Amnesia
Dementia
Depression
Autism
Wi ...more

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Sep 03, 2015 Bob rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: music, psychology

Summary: Renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks chronicles the neuroscience of music–the various ways music affects the brain, and the unusual effects of various neurological conditions on our perception, performance, and experience of music.

Oliver Sacks died on August 30 of this year. A few months earlier, my son gave me this book, and it seemed especially appropriate to pull it off the “to be read” pile and acquaint myself with the work of this neuroscientist and physician. Before opening the book, Summary: Renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks chronicles the neuroscience of music–the various ways music affects the brain, and the unusual effects of various neurological conditions on our perception, performance, and experience of music.

Oliver Sacks died on August 30 of this year. A few months earlier, my son gave me this book, and it seemed especially appropriate to pull it off the “to be read” pile and acquaint myself with the work of this neuroscientist and physician. Before opening the book, I had one of those heart-stopping moments as I found myself staring at the cover picture of Sacks and thought I was looking at a doppelganger! I guess balding men with graying beards, glasses and a certain shape of head can look a bit like each other.

What Sacks does is chronicle the fascinating ways music and the brain interact and some of the unusual conditions that involve unusual responses to music. In the course of this book he explores a range of phenomena beginning with a sudden onset of musical interest following a lightening strike, the ways music might evoke seizures or suppress the tics of Tourettes or the shaking of Parkinson’s. He wonders whether the advent of iPods will result in more brainworms–those tunes we can’t get out of our heads.He describes musical hallucinations, where one hears music in one’s head even when none is playing.

He explores musicality from tone deafness to perfect pitch (which occurs more in musical families and where musical training begins early) and synesthesia, where music is associated with color. He explores the connections between music, memory and movement. He describes Clive, who because of brain infection that affected his temporal lobes lives in a perpetual present with no memory of past moments. Yet somehow he remembers music he knew in the past.

Perhaps a highlight of the book was his description of a camp for people with Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the development of the brain resulting in low IQs and yet incredible verbal and musical skills. He describes the delight these people had in talking and making music with one another.

In one of the concluding chapters he describes the work done with Alzheimer’s patients and how, for them as well, music is a connection to memories of the past, and an anchor to their no-longer remembered lives that is profound. He talks about “the loss of self” and how music helps Alzheimer’s patients connect to some sense of “self” when the other memories are gone.

The book left me in wonder at the intricacies of the human brain and how the neural circuitry related to our perception, memory of, and making of music interact with speech, thought, emotion, and other memories. And it reminded me of the power of music–a power to evoke emotions, memories, and even to address troubling neurological conditions. It reminds me of how when I am learning, singing and performing a piece of music, I find myself tapping into a different aspect of who I am from when I am simply speaking or writing or reading. And I found myself thankful for the life of Oliver Sacks, who cared for people with troubling conditions and brought together his love for his patients, his skills in research, and his own musicality and life history into this fascinating narrative of music and the human brain. ...more

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May 25, 2014 Syed Ashrafulla rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: neuroscience

I know this book is cute to its readers because it makes them feel intelligent. "Hey look at me now I understand music from a brain perspective." This book is far far too narrow to pull that off. It's actually a terrible message to send to readers that music is inherently related to brain damage. The obvious question to ask is whether every good musician is mentally damaged, a question to which Sacks would answer yes apparently. He continually insinuates that great musicians probably had small m ...more

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Jul 05, 2017 K rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I had been meaning to read this book for years, mostly to know what a well regarded trade book about music and brain pathology looked like. You see, I'm interested in discourses of madness and disability and Sacks seemed like a good place to start. But wow... "The man who mistook his patients for a literary career" is right! Many people admire Oliver Sacks, and I don't begrudge them that sentiment, but as someone both heavily invested in music and disability politics, this book is disturbing. Wh ...more

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Oct 14, 2016 Amirography rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: cognitive-science, philosophy

It was a great book. Though it does not seem to follow a very hierarchical structure which I like, it is a great read. I loved how Dr. Sacks covered many different items relating to clinical aspects of music on different kinds of people. Indeed this book is for those who love brains and neuroscience, yet I think it stresses on the importance of music for everybody.

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Oct 13, 2018 Donna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

This is nonfiction neuroscience.....about the brain and music and how each of them can effect the other. Some of the science was fascinating. I also enjoyed the plethora of (case studies) stories the author cited. All the examples were different. I really felt for some of these patients because some of this sounded like awful afflictions, not a gift.

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About Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks

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Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE, was a British neurologist residing in the United States, who has written popular books about his patients, the most famous of which is Awakenings, which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.

Sacks was the youngest of four children born to a prosperous North London Jewish couple: Sam, a physician, and Elsie, a surgeon. When he wa Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE, was a British neurologist residing in the United States, who has written popular books about his patients, the most famous of which is Awakenings, which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.

Sacks was the youngest of four children born to a prosperous North London Jewish couple: Sam, a physician, and Elsie, a surgeon. When he was six years old, he and his brother were evacuated from London to escape The Blitz, retreating to a boarding school in the Midlands, where he remained until 1943. During his youth, he was a keen amateur chemist, as recalled in his memoir Uncle Tungsten. He also learned to share his parents' enthusiasm for medicine and entered The Queen's College, Oxford University in 1951, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in physiology and biology in 1954. At the same institution, he went on to earn in 1958, a Master of Arts (MA) and an MB ChB in chemistry, thereby qualifying to practice medicine.

After converting his British qualifications to American recognition (i.e., an MD as opposed to MB ChB), Sacks moved to New York, where he has lived since 1965, and taken twice weekly therapy sessions since 1966.

Sacks began consulting at chronic care facility Beth Abraham Hospital (now Beth Abraham Health Service) in 1966. At Beth Abraham, Sacks worked with a group of survivors of the 1920s sleeping sickness, encephalitis lethargica, who had been unable to move on their own for decades. These patients and his treatment of them were the basis of Sacks' book Awakenings.

His work at Beth Abraham helped provide the foundation on which the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), where Sacks is currently an honorary medical advisor, is built. In 2000, IMNF honored Sacks, its founder, with its first Music Has Power Award. The IMNF again bestowed a Music Has Power Award on Sacks in 2006 to commemorate "his 40 years at Beth Abraham and honor his outstanding contributions in support of music therapy and the effect of music on the human brain and mind".

Sacks was formerly employed as a clinical professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at the New York University School of Medicine, serving the latter school for 42 years. On 1 July 2007, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons appointed Sacks to a position as professor of clinical neurology and clinical psychiatry, at the same time opening to him a new position as "artist", which the university hoped will help interconnect disciplines such as medicine, law, and economics. Sacks was a consultant neurologist to the Little Sisters of the Poor, and maintained a practice in New York City.

Since 1996, Sacks was a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature). In 1999, Sacks became a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences. Also in 1999, he became an Honorary Fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford. In 2002, he became Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Class IV—Humanities and Arts, Section 4—Literature).[38] and he was awarded the 2001 Lewis Thomas Prize by Rockefeller University. Sacks was awarded honorary doctorates from the College of Staten Island (1991), Tufts University (1991), New York Medical College (1991), Georgetown University (1992), Medical College of Pennsylvania (1992), Bard College (1992), Queen's University (Ontario) (2001), Gallaudet University (2005), University of Oxford (2005), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2006). He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours. Asteroid 84928 Oliversacks, discovered in 2003 and 2 miles (3.2 km) in diameter, has been named in his honor. ...more