Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Oliver Sacks, writer of Musicophilia and numerous other books on neurology and history, was a neurologist who spent most of his life working with patients with various neurological conditions. Sacks was particularly fascinated by these conditions because they illuminated aspects of human neurology that would otherwise be undiscovered in the neurotypical population. As a writer, Sacks explored the relationship between the structure of the brain and aspects of the human experience more often associated with culture and the arts than with science. Sacks was diagnosed with a neurological condition of his own when he developed a tumor in his right eye that eventually left him blind in that eye. He also had moderate prosopagnosia, or face-blindness, throughout his life, though he did not realize he had the condition until middle age. In Musicophilia, Sacks writes of his experiences with amusia and grief, but focuses mainly on the experiences of those he knew and was impacted by. Sacks died in 2015 of the same ocular melanoma that caused his blindness. He remains essential to the history of neuroscience and to its continued advancement, and leaves behind an example of what a doctor should be: Compassionate, curious, and creative.