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What Members Thought
There was some interesting material in this, but it was buried in so many anecdotes and details that it was hard to keep paying attention. Ultimately, I ended up listening to a recorded version while I was driving or doing something else. That was ok, but it still seemed to take forever, so that by the time we got to the parts I would've been interested in, I was nearly glazed over.
The description says the book "explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human conditio ...more
The description says the book "explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human conditio ...more
Fascinating. Raises more questions than it answers, which for me made it an enjoyable and intellectually stimulating read. Although I do not know human anatomy at all well, and cannot bring to mind most of the musical works mentioned, music has largely influenced my life and has a large place in my soul. For example, having a degree of musical talent, I have never understood how people can listen to music and not want move to it. I do not have any the "symptoms" or "diseases" Sacks discusses, no
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Music is universal, and (almost) universally liked.
In a panoply of clinical vignettes, he discussed those with music and no voice, no memory, no interactions, no movement; of those without rhythm; of perfect pitch, and what is is, and isn't, and of its coming and going. Of those who became obscessively musical....
But, ultimately, the clinical precis are interesting, curious, and, occasionally, bizarre... but remain little anecdotes, petits riens, stories.
Music is too complex, too poorly unders ...more
In a panoply of clinical vignettes, he discussed those with music and no voice, no memory, no interactions, no movement; of those without rhythm; of perfect pitch, and what is is, and isn't, and of its coming and going. Of those who became obscessively musical....
But, ultimately, the clinical precis are interesting, curious, and, occasionally, bizarre... but remain little anecdotes, petits riens, stories.
Music is too complex, too poorly unders ...more
This collection of essays and anecdotes about different ways that music and musical abilities are effected by brain injuries, dementia, illness, and other disorders was fascinating. There were several anecdotes that I read out loud to my husband as I was reading along. Sacks has a tendency to self-cite a tad too often (how many times must he remind us that he wrote about this or that patient in An Anthropologist on Mars or The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat?). Still, he's generally engaging
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This book made me terrified that I'm one earworm away from persistent auditory hallucination. Another good collection of neurological anecdotes.
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Sep 01, 2008
Jennie
marked it as to-read
Aug 10, 2009
Marissa Genta Pineda
marked it as to-read
Nov 09, 2009
Angela Randall
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Aug 14, 2010
Mimi
marked it as to-read
Oct 13, 2010
L
marked it as to-read
![[ JT ]](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1253302100p2/2641450.jpg)
Dec 19, 2011
[ JT ]
marked it as recommended
Mar 12, 2019
Teddie
marked it as to-read
Apr 24, 2020
Rebecca
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Jan 11, 2024
Blucat32
marked it as to-read
