Oliver Sacks "Musicophilia. Tales of Music and the Brain"

Author: Oliver Sacks Original title: *Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain*. Genre: popular science Medical topics: neurology, epilepsy, amusia, music therapy Year of first publication: 2007 (worldwide), 2009 (Poland) Description: "Dr. Sacks writes not only as a doctor and scientist, but also as a humanist passionate about philosophy and literature. His book not only allows us to better understand the fleeting magic of music, but also sheds light on the astonishing workings of the human mind and its failures" —The New York Times Neurology devotes little time or space to disorders related to the perception of music. That is why *Musicophilia* is a one-of-a-kind work, and at the same time my favorite book by Oliver Sacks. In each chapter, we meet patients affected in some way by music. These include people struck by lightning, which suddenly awakened a musical talent in them; epileptics suffering from musical hallucinations, or epileptics for whom a specific type of music or a fragment of a piece serves as a trigger for a seizure;  stroke patients with amusia affecting pitch, rhythm, and harmony; people with Tourette’s syndrome for whom music helps control their tics; and people with Parkinson’s disease for whom music is a form of therapy that helps them break free from akinesia. We also learn why some people are gifted with perfect pitch or the ability to experience synesthesia—associating music with color, smell, or taste—while mostpeople are not. I encourage you to read it!