Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
- 425
- Pages
- about 8 h
- Reading time
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Our view
Case history by case history, “Musicophilia” shows what music does in the brain, and does it with warmth. Sacks arranges the book in four parts, from sudden onsets of musicality to memory, movement, emotion and identity, drawing on patients’ stories, their letters and the scientific literature. Some readers find the cases repetitive in places, and others are slowed by the neuroanatomical vocabulary. It rewards anyone curious about music and the mind.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain is a 2007 book by Oliver Sacks. It explores a range of psychological and physiological ailments and their connections to music. It is divided into four parts, each with a distinctive theme: Haunted by Music examines mysterious onsets of musicality and musicophilia ; A Range of Musicality looks at musical oddities such as musical synesthesia; parts three and four are entitled Memory, Movement, and Music and Emotion, Identity, and Music. Each chapter is dedicated to a particular case study that fit the overarching theme of the section. Four case studies from the book are featured in the NOVA program Musical Minds aired on June 30, 2009.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.4 across 117 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 44% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Rankings average of 7.8. That is how 7.6 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.5 | 23 | 20% |
| Hardcover | 7.4 | 94 | 80% |
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
