Audiobook
Musicophilia [sound recording] : tales of music and the brain / audio-book / Oliver Sacks ; read by Simon Prebble.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780739357392
- Physical Description: 5 compact discs (360 min.)
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Valemount Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valemount Public Library | audio book (Text) | 35194014059612 | Audio books | Volume hold | Available | - |
- AudioFile Reviews : AudioFile Reviews 2008 April/May
Neurologist Sacks, author of the acclaimed AWAKENINGS and THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT, again mines his own medical practice and his wide knowledge of his specialty--this time in order to bring us "tales of music and the brain." The case studies included here illuminate the multifarious and often surprising ways in which music and the brain interact--whether for ill, as in a patient suffering from musical hallucinations, for example, or an obsession with music following an injury, or for good, as in Parkinson's patients and others who find themselves relieved or otherwise helped by music therapy. The narrator, British-born Simon Prebble, is a good choice for this material. (Sacks, too, is British.) The reading is clear and crisp, as is the production. M.G. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2007 August #2
The gentle doctor turns his pen to another set of mental anomalies that can be viewed as either affliction or gift.If we could prescribe what our physicians would be like, a good number of us would probably choose somebody like Sacks (Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, 2001, etc.). Learned, endlessly inquisitive and seemingly possessed of a bottomless store of human compassion, the neurologist's authorial personality both reassures and arouses curiosity. Here, Sacks tackles the whole spectrum of the human body's experience of music by studying it from the aesthetic as well as medical viewpoint. Fantastical case studies include a young boy assaulted by musical hallucinations who would shout "Take it out of my head! Take it away!" when music only he could hear became unbearably loud. Less frightening are stories about people like Martin, a severely disabled man who committed some 2,000 operas to memory, or ruminations on the linkage between perfect pitch and language: Young children learning music are vastly more likely to have perfect pitch if they speak Mandarin than almost any other language. A gadfly and storyteller as well as a scientist, the author can't resist a good yarn even when it's not likely to be true, such as the anecdote about Shostakovich claiming that he heard beautiful new melodies every time he tilted his head to one side, due to a piece of German shrapnel lodged in his brain. Sacks is as good a guide to this mysterious and barely understood world as one could ask for, mixing serious case studies with personal takes on music and what its ultimate uses could possibly be. As the book wears on, however, his loose approach makes some later chapters more work than they should be.Pleasantly rollicking, but with a definite hint that the grand old man is taking it easy.First printing of 100,000 Copyright Kirkus 2007 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - PW Annex Reviews : Publishers Weekly Annex Reviews
Neurologist and professor Sacks, best known for his books Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, dedicates his latest effort to the relationship between music and unusual brain disorders. Embracing the notion that neurology is an inherently British phenomenon, foreign to the New World, Sacks's book is read by impeccably polished actor Prebble (PW's 2006 Narrator of the Year). As befitting so urbane and smooth a reader, Prebble sounds as if his shirt had just been starched and his lab coat carefully pressed before beginning. With nary a word out of place, Prebble steps onto the stage, playing the good Dr. Sacks for this one-time-only performance. Simultaneous release with the Knopf hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 27). (Oct.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.