Musicophagia

I've been a huge fan of Oliver's ever since TMWMHWFAH, I even went back and read all his previous books and I've loved (almost) everything since then. Not only do I enjoy the weird little neurological symptoms he describes but I love his folksy, self-deprecating voice.

"Musicophilia" however I found to be tough sledding -- I read at least 3 other books while trying to finish this one. The reason is not the material -- the relationship of musicality to mentation is fascinating, and he does an admirable job of covering the subject here. The problem lies in his voice -- this book is written from a somewhat scholarly third-person perspective (most of it) and it's made worse by this paperback "revised and expanded edition" which adds about 30% more to it in the form of endless repetition, tedious footnotes, and totally extraneous postscripts. Rather than using a few entertaining case histories to illustrate the subjects under discussion, Sacks lists dozens and dozens of nearly identical case histories with way too much detail and way not enough commentary.

The 425 page book could have made an entertaining 180 page book without losing any of the essential narrative. You really learn the value of a good editor when you don't have one.

[Friday, January 09, 2009]

A deeply intelligent, loving book.

Dr. Sacks has written a book that is astounding in its depth and love for humanity, his patients, the mysteries of life and music the great connector of us all. Music, how we each perceive it and it effects us. The stories in this book amaze and awaken us to the marvels of the brain, our wiring, science and possibility.

[Monday, January 05, 2009]

Tales and more tales of music and the brain

I should have read the title of the book more carefully, since this book is exactly what it claims to be: a compilation of tales (on average more than 10 per chapter), most of the times lacking the neuroscientific explanations that I was looking for.

I will summarize one anecdote to exemplify what I mean: "Florence Foster Jenkins, a corolatura that attracted a sell-out audience to Carnegie Hall (...) would sing notes that were excruciatingly wrong, flat, even screechy (...) without realizing that she was doing so. (...) Whether her fans were devoted to her in spite of her lack of musicality or because of it is not clear." That's it, no further explanations. This anecdote was in a footnote, where normally I expect to find a deeper explanation left out of the text for the ease of the less scientifically interested. I think I could have come up with such a "tale" myself, without having any knowledge of either music nor neuroscience. Other tales within the text are similarly lacking deeper explanations, as the case of a man who the author met for 5 minutes (that's it, he did not mention any further study by himself or somebody else). The deepest explanations you get throughout the book are following: a) during the appearance of certain conditions, neuroscientists have used MRI techniques ("magnetic resonance imaging") to detect an activation of "x" or "y" area in the brain, which indicates that this area is involved in the specific process or b) after autopsias have been practised, neuroscientists have found out that specific areas seem larger/smaller in persons with certain conditions than in most of the people. I would have liked to know how connetions are formed in the brain like how rythm, melody or other patterns are perceived or interpreted, etc.

Anyhow, if you are a layperson like myself, the reading of so many anecdotes will give you interesting insights to a lot of conditions that you probably have never heard of. The chapter on Williams' syndrome captivated me, and imagining somebody like Clive Wearing, who had a severe amnesia is quite tough. Additionally there seems to be no other book for laypersons that covers music and the brain in a deeper fashion. The reviews for Levitin's books seemed not too promising to me, so for the moment, this is probably the book for you if you want to learn something on this truly interesting subject.

For more interesting anecdotal neuroscience themes read Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind (2-3 clinical cases per chapter but thoroughly explained, including interesting therapy that improved the patients' condition and its neurological basis) and for a more comprehensive introduction to the workings of our brain I recommend A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain.

[Thursday, January 01, 2009]

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