Musicophilia

 Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, by Oliver Sacks, 425 pages.

Have you ever gotten the melody of a song stuck and in your head? We commonly refer to those as earworms but Oliver Sacks like to think of them as "brainworms."

This author has been on my to-read-list for a while now after seeing the 1990 Robin Williams film Awakenings, based on Sacks' work as a neuroscientist.  This is the perfect introduction to his life's work, which details some of his strangest and fascinating encounters with people who become plagued with issues of the mind--this one specifically catalogues stories of patients who suffer with (and in some cases, prosper from) uncontrolled issues of music related to the brain. This is a very empathetic and fascinating read, mostly short vignettes about interesting case studies Sacks has encountered in his storied career in the medical field. Patients who develop musical "hallucinations," concert musicians whose fingers suddenly revolt and refuse to play, a patient who constantly hears micro-tones, people with Tourette's who can only control their condition by continuously playing piano--the list seems endless. 

Many of the tales here feel unresolved, as many of these maladies are so peculiar and strange that cures and treatments are few and far between. Oftentimes, the very real people in these stories must learn to cope and live with their audio-induced ailments. Sacks flits about from one strange encounter to another, curiously musing on each case study briefly but with all the care of a trusted friend. One such heartbreaking story is of Clive Wearing, an accomplished musicologist and conductor, who contracted a herpes simplex virus that attacked his central nervous system and primarily affected his hippocampus. The resulting damage obliterated his brain's ability to make and retain new memories. New memory events for him last between 7 and 30 seconds. He couldn't remember his children's names or the last time he saw his wife (even though she continues to visit him regularly). And yet Clive was still able to play a piece of music from start to finish on the piano. Sacks muses that Clive can do that because melody is not a memory, but plays in our mind. "For those moments he was playing he seemed normal." But when the music stopped, Clive was lost to time once again. 

Fascinating, quick reading about the brain, neurology and music related trauma. Recommended for adults.