Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Having both a strong interest in music and a medical training, this book greatly appealed to me. Sacks is also a good speaker, and although I would have bought this book anyway, the lecture I attended didn't do anything to dissuade me from doing so.

Having read copious medical text, I always baulk at anything that might remotely stink of such, when choosing my recreational reading. Musicophilia does discuss the dry scientific evidence, in a fairly in-depth dry scientific way. This, I suppose is unavoidable given the task Sacks has set himself, of scientifically explaining both musical talent and musical pathology. Which is probably my main criticism of the book for my own personal reasons (as outlined above). However saying this, it is done in a fairly digestible manner that could have been more painful (and the big words in the hardback version help too). Others who haven't suffered the trauma of medical school, might even enjoy this scientific trawl which I consider mildly masochistic. However, as the title to this review suggests, these parts of Musicophilia were more like clothes-pegs, when compared to the thumbscrews of medical text I'm used to. I think it was probably worth it too, as I certainly learnt a few new interesting things about the human perception of music.

All that said, the raw science is padded out with case-studies. These are complete with the social context of the case, which gives some pathos to the book, lubricating the read before the friction of the science gets too painful.

All this may seem a little negative, and I must point out that the balance was towards the positive. Overall I enjoyed Musicphilia and would recommend it to others, although with the caviat of there being a heavy weighting towards the scientific, and that this certainly isn't a read that doesn't require a little effort on the part of the reader.

Not as good as I had hoped (0/1 people found this helpful)

Really read like a collection of articles - slightly repetitious, surprisingly little engagement with the depth of the topic. Lots of anecdotes - maybe that's the way that knowledge proceeds in neurology? Anyway, it's back to 'Music and the Mind' for me, and then perhaps on to 'The Singing Neanderthals'.

Minds making music (3/5 people found this helpful)

By now, it's a given that an Oliver Sacks' book is worth your time and close attention. His particular talent lies in making the science interesting without becoming a "pop-science" writer. This is not an easy achievement, but Sacks manages it with facility. He can explain the science in terms of case studies - many of which have claimed his medical attention. He does this while mixing in experiences of his own and some personal reflections which are anything but intrusions. While some of his books are essays on selected individuals ["An Anthropologist on Mars" is an example], this one has a very special focus: the minds that make music unbidden.

Music arising in the mind without prompting may seem a common enough occurence. The advertising industry has demonstated fully music as an uncontrollable meme. The cases Sacks portrays here are of another sort. In some cases the music has taken over - sometimes supplanting other thinking processes and reducing the victim to near helplessness. The chief problem is often a lack of variety. More than the adverts' jingles, particular tunes may emerge from the distant past to occupy the sufferer's waking hours. A well-disciplined mind, such as Doctor P's, may be able to use the uncalled for music in ways that get them through daily tasks. Others don't have that ability and the music proves a terrible distraction. The music renders them "incapable of hearing themselves think".

Therapy for such conditions is in its infancy and may actually be subverted by the deluge of music impinging our ears daily. Sacks notes the proliferation of the iPod devices bringing music to listeners who seem to pass the day in another realm. This, however, is not relieving a condition, but may be generating a new one. Some music therapy has been in use to overcome coordination disorders, but this is limited and selective in effectiveness. Even "classical" music, which is known to "draw the mind" into it is not innocent in causing disorders. One of the more captivating classical pieces, Ravel's "Bolero" may be both the product of "musicophilia" in an aging composer and the source of endless reptition in the mind of the listener. The tendency of the mind to retain music is demonstrated in those with advanced Alzheimer's, who lose other facilities but retain a sense for music. Is music thus something the brain holds on to as something reliable in an otherwise confusing world? Brain scans have demonstrated that professional musicians have certain areas of the brain larger than the rest of us, but as a path to therapy, this situation has offered little up to now.

The author's avoidance of simply presenting a string of clinical studies is a testament to his humanitarian approach to the various conditions he lists here. In a sense, this book is a catalog of distortions the mind may be subject to relating to music. In one case, a lightning strike turns an orthopaedic surgeon into a classical pianist. Another suffers massive brain damage, yet continues a relatively normal life so long as he can arrange things in musical forms. Others may respond positively to prompts of classical themes, while becoming emotionally distraught at modern forms. Listing the cases in such a way leaves the impression that one might as well be perusing a medical journal. In Sacks' hands, nothing could be further from the truth. He is passionate in his relating these conditions, his feelings permeating every page. A book well worth your time, whether you are intersted in music, the mind or how they combine in the minds of people you may know. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Disappointing (1/3 people found this helpful)

I am usually a fan of Oliver Sacks but this is a disappointing book. I am about halfway through and on the verge of putting it down, although will perservere as it's a fast read (ie. lightweight and not amazingly thought-provoking). It just reads, as someone else said, more like a series of magazine articles, with each chapter ("article") simply being a list of half a dozen or so interesting cases, but without much analysis of the whys and wherefores. Lightweight, unsatisfying and not up to his usual standards. Pass.

A little clunky (17/19 people found this helpful)

I got quite excited when I read articles about this book. It has not really lived up to my expectations.

It tells you about people who hear music in their heads, people with perfect pitch who lose it and vice versa, people with tinnitus and so on. The trouble for me was that in the end it becomes just a big long list of notes on the patients Sachs has treated. I could have used a bit more context, or even philosophical speculation and wonder. But the author is a medical man so he confines himself pretty much to the facts. And he reams them out - the patient experienced this, the patient reacted like that....

Its fascinating material but in all honesty the book is not well written. It is more academic than I had expected. Of course some people will prefer that. I didn't.

Some of the snippets I read in reviews and magazine articles were quite intriguing, but when I got to the full book I found that many of them remained snippets - a footnote about a piece of shrapnel in Shostakovich's head is a good example. Its just a couple of sentences and you want to know more about it but you are left unfulfilled.

Maybe I had too high expectations of this book. I don't want to be too negative as its a perfectly OK book. Its just not anything like as interesting as it appears.

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Oliver Sacks

Reader Reviews:

better than most medical writing (0/0 people found this helpful)

Not as good as I had hoped (0/1 people found this helpful)

Minds making music (3/5 people found this helpful)

Disappointing (1/3 people found this helpful)

A little clunky (17/19 people found this helpful)

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