A review by andrew_russell
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks
3.0
Sacks uses a mixture of case study and theoretical description to explain the neurological basis for the pleasure music can provide and the great loss that can be felt following injury or illness.
This provided more reading pleasure than the previous work by Sacks which I have read (The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat). Reason being, the mix between case study and theory was better. That said, it could have been better yet. The case studies that were given were too short to touch me emotionally to any great degree. Many of them were still rather similar in nature. I would have preferred either less case studies written with more detail, or no case studies and just the theory behind them. Sacks still struggles to satisfy the criteria for either a good theoretical science book, or a touching and emotional description of the effects of neurological illness.
Nevertheless, this was a pretty readable book and there is no doubt that it shone some light on the subject matter. It just wasn't particularly memorable for me.
This provided more reading pleasure than the previous work by Sacks which I have read (The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat). Reason being, the mix between case study and theory was better. That said, it could have been better yet. The case studies that were given were too short to touch me emotionally to any great degree. Many of them were still rather similar in nature. I would have preferred either less case studies written with more detail, or no case studies and just the theory behind them. Sacks still struggles to satisfy the criteria for either a good theoretical science book, or a touching and emotional description of the effects of neurological illness.
Nevertheless, this was a pretty readable book and there is no doubt that it shone some light on the subject matter. It just wasn't particularly memorable for me.