Musicophilia
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain is a 2007 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks about music and the human brain. The book was released on October 16, 2007 and published by Knopf.
On October 21, 2007 Sacks spoke with Andrea Seabrook of NPR's All Things Considered about music and its relationship to the human brain.
Four case studies from the book are featured in the NOVA program Musical Minds aired on June 30, 2009.
Reviews
In a review for The Washington Post, Peter D. Kramer wrote, "In Musicophilia, Sacks turns to the intersection of music and neurology -- music as affliction and music as treatment." Kramer wrote, "Lacking the dynamic that propels Sacks's other work, Musicophilia threatens to disintegrate into a catalogue of disparate phenomena." Kramer went on to say, "What makes Musicophilia cohere is Sacks himself. He is the book's moral argument. Curious, cultured, caring, in his person Sacks justifies the medical profession and, one is tempted to say, the human race." Kramer concluded his review by writing, "Sacks is, in short, the ideal exponent of the view that responsiveness to music is intrinsic to our makeup. He is also the ideal guide to the territory he covers. Musicophilia allows readers to join Sacks where he is most alive, amid melodies and with his patients."
Musicophilia was listed as one of the best books of 2007 by The Washington Post.
