Monday, December 10, 2007

Musicophilia - Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks

This book deals with two of my obsessions - music and neurology. I first got into Oliver Sacks in the third year of my Neuroscience BSc at Glasgow Uni. Until I read his work I'd never really thought about being a doctor but I found that his writing put a human face on the various conditions that I learned about in my lectures. Eventually I decided that I wanted to be a neurologist like Oliver Sacks and applied to medical school which got me to where I am today.

In this book Sacks looks at how music interacts with the brain. He describes musical auras which precede epileptic seizures and seizures which are triggered by music. He writes about the neurological basis of advertising jingles and musical hallucinations. He also talks about how music can help people with conditions like Parkinson's Disease or amnesia as well as the specific neurological problems that can affect musicians (which has left me thinking that I might have a bit of a dystonia affecting my left hand when I play guitar too much.)

He also describes musical hallucinations in deaf people and synaesthesia. I actually wish that I had synaesthesia, a neurological condition in which sensory input is cross-wired and musical notes can be associated with colours or tastes. It is for the most part harmless and it sounds like it might be interesting.

He writes about a rare congenital condition called Williams Syndrome that results in unusual musical abilities and about musical savants. I have learned a fair bit from this book although much of what he writes about has already been covered in his previous works.

I enjoyed this book although I would advise a new reader to start with The man who mistook his wife for a hat (which supplied the title of a Travis album) or An anthropologist on Mars. I would also tell a new reader about the film Awakenings although I would reassure the reader that Sacks books are not as sugary as the film inspired by his work.

For more try www.oliversacks.com

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