Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Description

With an introduction by neuroscientist Daniel Glaser The late Oliver Sacks' compassionate tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we think of our own minds. Musicophilia is no different. In this breathtaking work, Sacks 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.

Oliver Sacks was a physician and the author of many books, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Awakenings (which inspired the Oscar-nominated film) and Musicophilia. Born in London and educated at Oxford, he held positions at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and New York University School of Medicine and was Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at Columbia University. He was the first, and only, Columbia University Artist, and was also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. In 2008, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire. His memoir, On the Move, was published shortly before his death in August 2015.