'A humane discourse on the fragility of our minds, of the bodies that give rise
to them, and of the world they create for us. This book is filled with wonders'
Daily Telegraph Oliver Sacks' compassionate tales of people struggling to adapt
to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we think
of our own minds. In Musicophilia, he examines the powers of music through the
individual experiences of patients, musicians and everyday people -- those struc
k by affliction, unusual talent and even, in one case, by lightning -- to show n
ot only that music occupies more areas of our brain than language does, but also
that it can torment, calm, organize and heal. Always wise and compellingly read
able, these stories alter our conception of who we are and how we function, and
show us an essential part of what it is to be human. 'Fascinating. Music, as Sac
ks explains, "can pierce the heart directly".
