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|  | Author: Oliver Sacks
Publisher: Vintage
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $5.99
as of 11/22/2009 21:47 CST details
You Save: $8.96 (60%)
New (59) Used (35) from $5.99
Seller: braybookscds
Rating:  115 reviews
Sales Rank: 2216
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised & enlarged
Pages: 448
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1400033535
Dewey Decimal Number: 781
EAN: 9781400033539
ASIN: 1400033535
Publication Date: September 23, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Very little wear. No stamps or marks.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 26-30 of 115
 Tales and more tales / P.D. I've changed my mind January 1, 2009
A. Panda (Guadalajara, Mexico)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
This book is exactly what its title claims: a compilation of tales (on average more than 10 per chapter), most of the times lacking the neuroscientific explanations that I was looking for. Take for example the case of a man with a strange musical condition whom the author met for 5 minutes at an airport (without mentioning any further study by himself or anybody else) or following anecdote: "Florence Foster Jenkins, a corolatura that attracted a sell-out audience to Carnegie Hall (...) would sing notes that were excruciatingly wrong, flat, even screechy (...) without realizing that she was doing so. (...) Whether her fans were devoted to her in spite of her lack of musicality or because of it is not clear." That's it, no further explanations. This anecdote was in a footnote, where normally I expect to find a deeper explanation left out of the text for the ease of the less scientifically interested. I think I could have come up with such a "tale" myself, without having any knowledge of either music nor neuroscience.
The deepest explanations you get throughout the book are following: a) during the appearance of certain conditions, neuroscientists have used MRI techniques ("magnetic resonance imaging") to detect an activation of "x" or "y" area in the brain, which indicates that this area is involved in the specific process or b) after autopsias have been practised, neuroscientists have found out that specific areas seem larger/smaller in persons with certain conditions than in most of the people. I would have liked to know how connections are formed in the brain and how rythm, melody or other patterns are perceived or interpreted, etc.
Anyhow, if you are a layperson like myself, the reading of so many anecdotes will give you interesting insights to a lot of conditions that you probably have never heard of. The chapter on Williams' syndrome captivated me, people with this condition seem to be made for music and are very warm and happy people, while imagining somebody like Clive Wearing, who had a severe amnesia is quite tough. In both cases music literally "drives" their lives. Mr. Sacks mentioned Music, The Brain, And Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination in his bibliography; I've only read one chapter until now and it seems more what I was looking for, although a bit more difficult to read. It starts by how our ears are constructed, the way they receive and filter a myriad of simultaneus stimuly from sound waves lets say from an orchestra (where all instruments are playing at the same time pushing air molecules around them), how these stimuli are delivered to the brain and how the brain interprets them. The reviews for Levitin's books seemed not too promising to me either, so for the moment, if you want to learn something on this truly interesting subject, you should probably read this one as a lighter reading or engage in a deeper journey with Jourdain.
[...] February 21st: I have changed my mind.
After reading Jourdain's book, where all functions are explained in more detail, I can appreciate Musicophilia much better. Jourdain explains how it works, while Musicophilia tells you what conditions might appear when things aren't exactly that way. Musical imagery, perfect pitch and music therapy are also more vividly exemplified by Mr. Sacks. Had I read Jourdain's book first, I would have probably rated Musicophilia with 4 stars.
Musicophilia: Reviewed December 4, 2008
A. Hampton (Santa Monica, CA USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book further detailed the fascination with music's neurological connection. Why do some people have a natural talent and others don't? Absolute pitch, musical savants, 'seeing' music, memory training, and gained/lost musical abilities from accidents/health issues/etc are a few of the many topics Sacks addresses. The majority of the book are case reviews from the author's various patients & studies. There are definitely some cases that feel repetitive (Okay great...another story about another guy struck by lighting with the same reaction as the previous 2 described). For someone who is interested in music's effect on the mind (and someone who is a bit nerdy), this book is perfect for casually picking up in the evenings and reading at leisure.
 Man, the musical animal December 4, 2008
wiredweird (Earth, or somewhere nearby)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Sacks does it again, merging clinical precision with insight and real affection for his patients. This time, he explores the biological foundations of music as a human experience. It turns out that music runs deep in the human brain and mind, as it does in possibly no other species. In his medical practice, Sacks has seen how music can heal, as in some Parkison's and psychiatric patients, or even harm, in rare cases where its rhythms can trigger seizures. It can reach in to patients blocked from normal communication, and it can help people reach out through stuttering or stroke-damaged failures of language. In some Tourette's patients, it can both drive creativity, and be used to channel the illness's effects away from harmful kinds of expression. It casts new light on Plato's draconian control over music in his idealized Republic - it really does have deep effect on the citizens' minds.
Since musical expression seems so deeply ingrained in the human nervous system, it seems surprising that people differ so much in how the experience it. Oddly, enjoyment and basic neurological faculties for music don't always go together. I'm one who "lack[s] some of the perceptual or cognitive abilities to appreciate music but nonetheless enjoy it hugely." I'm about as unmusical as anyone around, but usually have something playing - at least in my imagination. Others, even with fine senses of pitch or the formal nuances of music, might be quite indifferent. I found it helpful to see all the different parts of the musical sense, and to see how they fit together.
This book gives real insight into one of the most basic of human faculties. It's a study that has only recently claimed a place of its own in the scientific literature, possibly because it is so abstract and subjective. As a result, nearly everything that Sacks presents comes across as fresh knowledge. And, since it discusses parts of human nature that have rarely been discussed, it helped me to see my place in the range of human experience. My lack of musical ability has been an embarrassment, sometimes a painful one. I can, and do, enjoy it anyway, and my enjoyment is as real as anyone's.
-- wiredweird
Musicophillia December 2, 2008
George (Boston, Massachusetts)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Arrived quickly and in perfect condition.
Great read for anyone interested in the psychology of music, specifically music therapists.
If you've read Sacks and loved it, you'll be disappointed... November 28, 2008
John Loram (Ashland, OR USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Perhaps the "revised and Expanded Edition" has overcome the original failings of repetition and failure to hold together. This book felt link a compendium of short articles.
Showing reviews 26-30 of 115
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