Minds making music
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]

New Understandings
This book opens up your mind to new ideas on the value and processing of music. An amazing, insightful creation!

Sour notes
I loved Oliver Sacks's other books -- "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat" and Anthropologist on Mars." Long after reading them, I quote stories from them, even after forgetting their origin. But "Musicophila" is a drag

Though Sacks seems to follow his trademark formula -- using extraordinary tales of people with mental disabilities and injuries to shed light on normality -- it falls flat here. We learn of people with irksome musical hallucinations, folks whose musicality becomes all-encompassing after getting hit by lightning, and all sorts of epilepsy-like symptoms that involve music. There are even folks who develop selected tone-blindness -- hearing some tones flatter or sharper than then really are. But it doesn't seem to add up to anything. Certainly not to a book that makes me want to keep reading.

Musicality seem so wired into our brains. Everyone from the stoniest stoner to airiest aesthete has his or her own personal soundtrack and musical preferences. A movie without a soundtrack has no soul. A religious ceremony without it seems an exercise in atheism. A ballgame or sports roundup on the news needs its own music. Even soldiers battling in the streets of Baghdad patrol to heavy metal accompaniment. It's sad that Sacks can't give us any memorable insights into this most pervasive and seemingly vital of human experiences.

Musicophilia is another book that, in spite of the worthiness of its subject and the erudition of its author, is impossible to get through. What does it need -- more lurid examples? weirder symptoms? less cribbing from Sacks' other books?

Sounds about right.

Sachsophonia
The great Oliver Sachs turns his attention to neurological disturbances related to the hearing of Music. In the course of it he shows that what I suspect most of us take for granted, that we all share a basic single way of 'hearing music' to be wrong. He shows that the listening to Music is an enormously complex neurological process involving different areas of the brain. And in chronicling a wide variety of disorders he shows not only how different areas of the Brain are involved but also how social elements may play their part in these disorders. For instance in discussing musical therapy for stroke victims, Parkinson sufferers, Alzheimer patients he shows just how important with the stroke victims a therapist can be . Sachs chronicles a long list of unusual cases and disorders. He provides a great deal of personal anecdote also related to his own 'listening history'. He shows us that our being able to listen properly to music is a great and complex gift.
The reader of this book will learn not only a tremendous amount about what is involved in 'listening to music', but of the richness and variety of humanity.

excellent book, amazing stories!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading and studying this book. Oliver Sacks a professor of Clinical Neurology and Psychiatry, has a very engaging writing style. Sacks writes in an understandble way for most, but still uses medical terminology to be more precise.

I know from reading another book ("The Feeling of What Happens) by a neurologist (Antonio Damaisio) that neurology is filled with strange syndromes and defects/conditions. I find this book even more fascinating because Sacks emphasizes case histories. These individuals are not really "sick" but are "gifted" with special talents related to music. There are many who have various syndromes/ailments and are able to moderate their problems via music (either playing or listening to it).

My favorite parts of the book are the discussions on things such as synesthesia (unusual perception of sound/music), musicogenenic epilepsy (seizures initiated by sound/music), musicophilia and brain worms. There were however no parts of this book where I was not totally engaged and interested in the information. This may not be an easy read for everyone, but it's impossible to read it without being in awe of the power of music and the people who play it.