Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Musicophilia is a nonfiction book by Oliver Sacks, a prolific writer and neurologist whose books seek to bridge the gap between scientific and humanistic understandings of the human mind. Sacks compiled his case studies, personal experiences, and relevant neurological research to illuminate the power of Music as a Tool of Adaptation, Resilience, and Healing, to make the case for Music as an Innate Human Characteristic, and to explore The Limits of Knowledge in Musical Neurology. Musicophilia was originally published in 2007 but features case studies from as far back as 1965. As in his other books, Sacks writes about complex scientific topics for a general audience, using neuroscience to explore concepts most often associated with the arts and culture. Other works by Sacks include The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales and An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales.

This guide utilizes the 2008 Vintage Books Trade Paperback edition of the book.

Summary

Musicophilia is a scientific, philosophical, and experiential exploration of humanity’s physiological connections to music. Each chapter discusses a different and unique neurological experience of music and the neurological conditions, both genetic and acquired, that make that experience possible.