Musicophilia Tales of Music and the Brain
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Book Reviews Reflections • Réflexions Musicophilia Tales of music and the brain AUTHOR Oliver Sacks PUBLISHER Knopf Canada, 2775 Matheson Blvd E, Mississauga, ON L4W 4P7 TELEPHONE 905 624-0672 FAX 905 624-6217 WEBSITE www.musicophilia.com PUBLISHED 2007/400 pp/$34.95 OVERALL RATING Excellent STRENGTHS Well written; erudite; short chapters; easy as musician’s focal dystonia. He pres- to read ents fascinating case histories; for WEAKNESSES Footnotes example, the case of the orthopedic interrupt narrative flow; surgeon who was struck by lightning some case histories are and subsequently became obsessed repeated from his earlier with music, to the point where he was book, An Anthropologist on constantly listening, playing, and even Mars composing music (so-called musico- philia). He writes about the emergence AUDIENCE Musicians, music of musical talent in patients with fron- lovers, and medical prac- totemporal dementia, and the musi- titioners with an interest cal talents of children and adults in the correlation between with Williams syndrome. He makes a music and neuroanatomy plea for the use of music therapy for patients with dementia, aphasia, par- kinsonism, and stroke. He illustrates n Musicophilia, the eminent neurol- the neuroanatomic substrate of vari- Iogist Dr Oliver Sacks explores the ous musical symptoms, such as musi- important role that music plays in our cal auras, musical hallucinations, and lives and in the lives of our patients. amusia. With frequent references to He does this by sharing his own per- classical literature and historical fig- sonal history, followed by a series ures, Dr Sacks provides a compen- of clinical vignettes. He writes about dium of interesting facts and figures. the experience of feeling emotion- There is an extensive bibliography for ally numb after his mother died. One anyone interested in further reading. day he was walking down the street However, the too-frequent use of foot- and heard a radio playing Schubert notes occasionally interrupts the nar- through an open basement window. rative flow. The music triggered many happy child- There was a paucity of literature hood memories, and he started to feel on the neuroscience of music before alive again. He writes about common the 1980s, but in recent years a num- everyday phenomena (eg, “earworms,” ber of books on this subject have in which a catchy tune keeps going emerged. Musicophilia is highly rec- through one’s mind). He discusses ommended for clinicians. the neuropathology of various medi- —Manuel Matas MD cal conditions related to music, such Dr Matas is a psychiatrist in Winnipeg, Man. VOL 54: DECEMBER • DÉCEMBRE 2008 Canadian Family Physician • Le Médecin de famille canadien 1727.