Book review of

Musicophilia Tales of Music and Brain

Abstract

In the book of “Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain” Oliver Sacks, a Professor of Clinical Neurology at Columbia University in New York City, describes interesting stories about men and women with rare neurological conditions, which react to music in uncommon forms: some of them are unable to hear any kind of music and others, on the contrary, listen to music all the time, even when no melody is being typed. There are cases where, after an accident, the person involved develops a musical talent, that did not manifest before. The book offers a fascinating number of stories about phenomena linking neurology, physiology and music, showing that music can survive the most devastating brain damage.