MOLI VIEW™

There is no doubt that music, in its great variety, has transformational powers. The brain's capacity to channel what greets our ears into an emotional or neurological response never fails to surprise us: a tune from childhood that floods you with a sense memory of carefree times or a violin concerto that, free of any lyrical influence, brings a tear to the eye. Be it punk rock or Pachelbel, music is a language that speaks to us as intimately as we speak to ourselves, maybe even more so.

In his new book Musicophilia, author/neurologist Oliver Sacks goes deep, exploring how music shapes our psyches and the unique relationships that arise from this "completely abstract and profoundly emotional" art form.

As he has in previous books like The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Awakenings (which spawned a feature film starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro), Sacks uses phenomenal case studies to illustrate his point. Musicophilia, which is subtitled Tales of Music and the Brain, includes stories of patients like the 42-year-old doctor who developed dedicated piano skills after being struck by lightning or the avant-garde composer who is plagued by the mundane lullabies constantly playing in his head. Sacks also details the profound effect music can have on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients and people with other kinds of brain disorders, including a group of children with Williams syndrome whom he describes as "hypermusical" from birth.

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