Two new books study the way that music effects our brains and our bodies.
Musicophilia (2007) by neurologist Oliver Sacks chronicles the musical, medical maladies of patients. Never heard of such a thing? Well there’s a doctor who develops a sudden passion for music after surviving a lightning strike. Sacks also refers to musical hallucinations such as those associated with migraine headaches, of which Sachs is also a sufferer. I also experience migraines and often find the same song repeats in my head until the pain and music reach a heightened pitch, which forces me to throw up. Yuck. This is a form of earworm, a word coined by Sacks to describe the phenomena that we have all experienced of getting a song stuck in your head that won’t go away. (May you never get My Sharona by The Knack stuck in your head!)
Sacks' success lies in his ability to tell the story of his various patients and to explain neurological phenomena in a language understood by the layperson. Sacks is also a doctor who cares about his patients and loves his work, his enthusiasm is infectious and propels the narrative.
This Is Your Brain on Music (2007) is a book by Daniel J. Levitin a former musician and musical producer, who became a scientist because of his intense passion for and curiosity about music. Levitin explores music as a social anthropologist and posits that music is part of what makes us human. An apt quote from Levitin’s introduction to the book sums it up nicely: “Your brain on music is a way to understand the deepest mysteries of human nature. That is why I wrote this book.”
The reality is that there is more to music than we will ever be able to comprehend with words. It has been suggested that music is the most abstract of art forms, because there are not necessarily words or images that assist us in absorbing, interpreting or experiencing this aural world. Both of these books are a good start.
Washington Post review of Oliver Sacks book here.
Other books by Oliver Sacks that I recommend:
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat
An Anthropologist on Mars
A Leg to Stand On
Musicophilia (2007) by neurologist Oliver Sacks chronicles the musical, medical maladies of patients. Never heard of such a thing? Well there’s a doctor who develops a sudden passion for music after surviving a lightning strike. Sacks also refers to musical hallucinations such as those associated with migraine headaches, of which Sachs is also a sufferer. I also experience migraines and often find the same song repeats in my head until the pain and music reach a heightened pitch, which forces me to throw up. Yuck. This is a form of earworm, a word coined by Sacks to describe the phenomena that we have all experienced of getting a song stuck in your head that won’t go away. (May you never get My Sharona by The Knack stuck in your head!)
Sacks' success lies in his ability to tell the story of his various patients and to explain neurological phenomena in a language understood by the layperson. Sacks is also a doctor who cares about his patients and loves his work, his enthusiasm is infectious and propels the narrative.
This Is Your Brain on Music (2007) is a book by Daniel J. Levitin a former musician and musical producer, who became a scientist because of his intense passion for and curiosity about music. Levitin explores music as a social anthropologist and posits that music is part of what makes us human. An apt quote from Levitin’s introduction to the book sums it up nicely: “Your brain on music is a way to understand the deepest mysteries of human nature. That is why I wrote this book.”
The reality is that there is more to music than we will ever be able to comprehend with words. It has been suggested that music is the most abstract of art forms, because there are not necessarily words or images that assist us in absorbing, interpreting or experiencing this aural world. Both of these books are a good start.
Washington Post review of Oliver Sacks book here.
Other books by Oliver Sacks that I recommend:
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat
An Anthropologist on Mars
A Leg to Stand On
