Musicophilia

Powerful and compassionate. . . . A book that not only contributes to our understanding of the elusive magic of music but also illuminates the strange workings, and misfirings, of the human mind. --The New York Times Curious, cultured, caring. . . . Musicophilia allows readers to join Sacks where he is most alive, amid melodies and with his patients. --The Washington Post Book World Sacks has an expert bedside manner: informed but humble, self-questioning, literary without being self-conscious. --Los Angeles Times Sacks spins one fascinating tale after another to show what happens when music and the brain mix it up. --Newsweek Sacks once again examines the many mysteries of a fascinating subject. --The Seattle Times Powerful and compassionate. . . . A book that not only contributes to our understanding of the elusive magic of music but also illuminates the strange workings, and misfirings, of the human mind. The New York Times Curious, cultured, caring. . . . Musicophilia allows readers to join Sacks where he is most alive, amid melodies and with his patients. The Washington Post Book World Sacks has an expert bedside manner: informed but humble, self-questioning, literary without being self-conscious. Los Angeles Times Sacks spins one fascinating tale after another to show what happens when music and the brain mix it up. Newsweek Sacks once again examines the many mysteries of a fascinating subject. The Seattle Times Dr. Sacks writes not just as a doctor and a scientist but also as a humanist with a philosophical and literary bent. . . [his] book not only contributes to our understanding of the elusive magic of music but also illuminates the strange workings, and misfirings, of the human mind. -Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Oliver Sacks turns his formidable attention to music and the brain . . . He doesn't stint on the science . . . but the underlying authority of Musicophilia lies in the warmth and easy command of the author's voice. -Mark Coleman, Los Angeles Times His work is luminous, original, and indispensable . . . Musicophilia is a Chopin mazurka recital of a book, fast, inventive and weirdly beautiful . . . Yet what is most awe-inspiring is his observational empathy. - American Scholar Curious, cultured, caring, in his person Sacks justifies the medical profession and, one is tempted to say, the human race . . . 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. -Peter D. Kramer, The Washington Post Readers will be grateful that Sacks . . . is happy to revel in phenomena that he cannot yet explain. - The New York Times Book Review The persuasive essays about composers, patients, savants, and ordinary people . . . offer captivating variations on the central premise that human beings are 'exquisitely tuned' to the illuminating yet ultimately mysterious powers of music. - Elle With the exception of LewisThomas, no physician has ever written better about his trade. - Salon A gifted writer and a neurologist, Sacks spins one fascinating tale after another to show what happens when music and the brain mix it up. -Newsweek From the Hardcover edition.