MUSICOPHILIA

Among the stories Sacks offers: a doctor gets hit by lightning and develops a sudden craving for the music of Chopin; people with "amusia"—total tone deafness—who experience music only as discordant, unpleasant noise; musical savants, who show retardation in most areas of their lives but have near-genius abilities when it comes to music; and how music therapy can aid people with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and other disorders.

“Powerful and compassionate. . . . A book that not only contributes to our understanding of the elusive magic of music but also illuminates the strange workings, and misfirings, of the human mind.”
—The New York Times

“Curious, cultured, caring. . . . Musicophilia allows readers to join Sacks where he is most alive, amid melodies and with his patients.” —The Washington Post Book World

“Sacks has an expert bedside manner: informed but humble, self-questioning, literary without being self-conscious.”
—Los Angeles Times

“Sacks spins one fascinating tale after another to show what happens when music and the brain mix it up.”
—Newsweek

“Sacks once again examines the many mysteries of a fascinating subject.”
—The Seattle Times

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