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 enlarge | Author: Oliver Sacks
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $8.60
You Save: $6.35 (42%)
New (55) Used (8) from $7.77
Avg. Customer Rating:  94 reviews
Sales Rank: 426
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised & enlarged
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.6 x 0.9
ISBN: 1400033535
Dewey Decimal Number: 781.11
EAN: 9781400033539
ASIN: 1400033535
Publication Date: September 23, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW
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| Customer Reviews:
 Sour notes June 24, 2008
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
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 June 19, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
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! June 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
 More brain than music June 13, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
To be honest, I'm not yet finished reading the book. But as far as I've read, I wish Dr. Sacks hsd more "music" and less "brain" in the book. I'd be very interested in how composers' and musicians' brains work differently than from everyone else's and how music evolves differently in different people. Maybe this will be covered in later chapters.
A great read, especially for musicians, but fun for anyone who enjoys music May 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
My sister recommended this book to me. She and I are both musicians, she as a baritone horn and piano player and I as a dance and jazz band sax/clarinet/vibes player. Dr. Sacks is a very informative and amusing writer with a wealth of exprience.
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