Musicophilia
Musico philia : Tales of Music and the Brain (in German: Love of Music: Stories of Music and the Brain ) is a book by the English neurologist and author Oliver Sacks about music and the human brain . The book was published in English on October 16, 2007 by the button Verlag . The German-language edition is entitled The one-armed pianist - About music and the brain .
content
The book is divided into several more or less independent parts in which individual patients or patient groups are described, for example, who have a special inherited, acquired or lost relationship to music. The spectrum of clinical pictures and anomalies extends from injuries or changes in the brain caused by external influences such as lightning strikes or internal influences such as taking medication to people with congenital Williams-Beuren syndrome .
The material is presented in the usual way from Oliver Sacks, both scientifically correct and entertaining. On his forays into the world of diseases that affect the ability to perceive or exercise music, he illuminates topics such as perfect pitch , earwigs , synesthesia , acoustic perception disorders or hallucinations , whereby he also incorporates his own experiences. Many of the phenomena described in the book are related to other diseases, such as epilepsy , Alzheimer's disease, or blindness . Some of the patients and people described are musical amateurs, but some are also professional interpreters and composers , such as Alexander Nikolajewitsch Scriabin , Dmitri Dmitrijewitsch Shostakowitsch or Michael Torke , whose sufferings or abilities have sometimes drastic effects on their professional activity or theirs Have or had everyday life .
effect
Musicophilia was listed as one of the Best Books of 2007 by the Washington Post . Since the end of May 2008 it has been available in a German translation under the title Der einarmige Pianist - About Music and the Brain .
literature
- ISBN 1-4000-4081-7
- ISBN 978-1-4000-4081-0
- The one-armed pianist. About music and the brain. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2008, ISBN 3-498-06376-6 , 352 pages.
- Chimpanzees don't dance . In: Der Spiegel . No. 11 , 2008, p. 146–148 ( online interview by Samiha Shafy and Jörg Blech with OS).
- Music is the treasure chest in the brain . In: Tagesspiegel , May 30, 2008
Web links
- Official website
- Musicophilia on the author's website
- Meeting in WIRED