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Musicophilia
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Essays
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Hallucinations
- By: Oliver Sacks
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Have you ever seen something that wasn't really there? Heard someone call your name in an empty house? Sensed someone following you and turned around to find nothing? Dr Oliver Sacks weaves together stories of his patients and of his own mind-altering experiences to illuminate what hallucinations tell us about the organisation and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture's folklore and art and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all, a vital part of the human condition.
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A poor choice of reader
- By C. Mckinnell on 19-10-20
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An Anthropologist on Mars
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Oliver Sacks
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As with his previous best seller, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, in An Anthropologist on Mars Oliver Sacks uses case studies to illustrate the myriad ways in which neurological conditions can affect our sense of self, our experience of the world and how we relate to those around us. Writing with his trademark blend of scientific rigour and human compassion, he describes patients such as the colour-blind painter or the surgeon with compulsive tics that disappear in the operating theatre - patients for whom disorientation and alienation but also adaptation are inescapable facts of life.
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The genius of Oliver Sacks
- By Chris on 02-06-19
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Awakenings
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- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
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Hailed as a medical classic, and the subject of a major feature film as well as radio and stage plays and various TV documentaries, Awakenings by Oliver Sacks is the extraordinary account of a group of 20 patients. Rendered catatonic by the sleeping-sickness epidemic that swept the world just after the First World War, all 20 had spent 40 years in hospital - motionless and speechless; aware of the world around them but exhibiting no interest in it - until Dr Sacks administered the then-new drug L-DOPA, which caused them, temporarily, to awake from their decades-long slumber.
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Enjoyably extended from the original, well read
- By Client d'Amazon on 01-10-20
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The Mind's Eye
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In The Mind’s Eye, Oliver Sacks tells the stories of people who are able to navigate the world and communicate with others despite losing what many of us consider indispensable senses and abilities: the capacity to recognise faces, the sense of three-dimensional space, the ability to read, the sense of sight. For all of these people, the challenge is to adapt to a radically new way of being in the world - and The Mind’s Eye is testament to the myriad ways that we, as humans, are capable of rising to this challenge.
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This Is Your Brain on Music
- Understanding a Human Obsession
- By: Daniel Levitin
- Narrated by: Daniel Levitin
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
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Using musical examples from Bach to the Beatles, Levitin reveals the role of music in human evolution, shows how our musical preferences begin to form even before we are born and explains why music can offer such an emotional experience. Music is an obsession at the heart of human nature, even more fundamental to our species than language. In This Is Your Brain on Music Levitin offers nothing less than a new way to understand it and its role in human life.
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Ok but not as much musical content as II thought
- By Mr. Oliver A. Godfrey on 20-05-20
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The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
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- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
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With an introduction by Will Self. A classic work of psychology, this international best seller provides a groundbreaking insight into the human mind. If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self - himself - he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it. In this extraordinary book, Dr. Oliver Sacks recounts the stories of patients struggling to adapt to often bizarre worlds of neurological disorder.
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Good book, slightly let down by the narration
- By D. John on 16-09-19
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Hallucinations
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you ever seen something that wasn't really there? Heard someone call your name in an empty house? Sensed someone following you and turned around to find nothing? Dr Oliver Sacks weaves together stories of his patients and of his own mind-altering experiences to illuminate what hallucinations tell us about the organisation and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture's folklore and art and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all, a vital part of the human condition.
-
-
A poor choice of reader
- By C. Mckinnell on 19-10-20
-
An Anthropologist on Mars
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Oliver Sacks
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As with his previous best seller, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, in An Anthropologist on Mars Oliver Sacks uses case studies to illustrate the myriad ways in which neurological conditions can affect our sense of self, our experience of the world and how we relate to those around us. Writing with his trademark blend of scientific rigour and human compassion, he describes patients such as the colour-blind painter or the surgeon with compulsive tics that disappear in the operating theatre - patients for whom disorientation and alienation but also adaptation are inescapable facts of life.
-
-
The genius of Oliver Sacks
- By Chris on 02-06-19
-
Awakenings
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Oliver Sacks
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed as a medical classic, and the subject of a major feature film as well as radio and stage plays and various TV documentaries, Awakenings by Oliver Sacks is the extraordinary account of a group of 20 patients. Rendered catatonic by the sleeping-sickness epidemic that swept the world just after the First World War, all 20 had spent 40 years in hospital - motionless and speechless; aware of the world around them but exhibiting no interest in it - until Dr Sacks administered the then-new drug L-DOPA, which caused them, temporarily, to awake from their decades-long slumber.
-
-
Enjoyably extended from the original, well read
- By Client d'Amazon on 01-10-20
-
The Mind's Eye
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Oliver Sacks
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Mind’s Eye, Oliver Sacks tells the stories of people who are able to navigate the world and communicate with others despite losing what many of us consider indispensable senses and abilities: the capacity to recognise faces, the sense of three-dimensional space, the ability to read, the sense of sight. For all of these people, the challenge is to adapt to a radically new way of being in the world - and The Mind’s Eye is testament to the myriad ways that we, as humans, are capable of rising to this challenge.
-
This Is Your Brain on Music
- Understanding a Human Obsession
- By: Daniel Levitin
- Narrated by: Daniel Levitin
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Using musical examples from Bach to the Beatles, Levitin reveals the role of music in human evolution, shows how our musical preferences begin to form even before we are born and explains why music can offer such an emotional experience. Music is an obsession at the heart of human nature, even more fundamental to our species than language. In This Is Your Brain on Music Levitin offers nothing less than a new way to understand it and its role in human life.
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Ok but not as much musical content as II thought
- By Mr. Oliver A. Godfrey on 20-05-20
-
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Oliver Sacks
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With an introduction by Will Self. A classic work of psychology, this international best seller provides a groundbreaking insight into the human mind. If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self - himself - he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it. In this extraordinary book, Dr. Oliver Sacks recounts the stories of patients struggling to adapt to often bizarre worlds of neurological disorder.
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Good book, slightly let down by the narration
- By D. John on 16-09-19
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Seeing Voices
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Imaginative and insightful, Seeing Voices offers a way into a world that is, for many people, alien and unfamiliar - for to be profoundly deaf is not just to live in a world of silence but also to live in a world where the visual is paramount. In this remarkable book, Oliver Sacks explores the consequences of this, including the different ways in which the deaf and the hearing impaired learn to categorise their respective worlds - and how they convey and communicate those experiences to others.
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The River of Consciousness
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- Narrated by: Dan Woren, Kate Edgar
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In The River of Consciousness, Dr. Sacks takes on evolution, botany, chemistry, medicine, neuroscience and the arts and calls upon his great scientific and creative heroes - above all, Darwin, Freud and William James. For Sacks these thinkers were constant companions from an early age; the questions they explored - the meaning of evolution, the roots of creativity and the nature of consciousness - lie at the heart of science and of this audiobook.
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On the Move: A Life
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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An impassioned, tender and joyous memoir by the author of Musicophilia and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. When Oliver Sacks was twelve years old, a perceptive schoolmaster wrote in his report: 'Sacks will go far, if he does not go too far'. It is now abundantly clear that Sacks has never stopped going. From its opening pages on his youthful obsession with motorcycles and speed, On the Move is infused with his restless energy.
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Great book, shame about the voice choice
- By study never stops on 16-12-15
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Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior
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- Narrated by: Mark Leary
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Original Recording
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Performance
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Story
Every day of your life is spent surrounded by mysteries that involve what appear to be rather ordinary human behaviors. What makes you happy? Where did your personality come from? Why do you have trouble controlling certain behaviors? Why do you behave differently as an adult than you did as an adolescent?Since the start of recorded history, and probably even before, people have been interested in answering questions about why we behave the way we do.
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Some useful lectures
- By Sina Madani on 27-03-18
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Migraine
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- Unabridged
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In Migraine, Oliver Sacks offers at once a medical account of its occurrence and management; an exploration of its physical, physiological, and psychological underpinnings and consequences; and a meditation on the nature and experience of health and illness.
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Savant
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Dr. Oliver Sacks on Music and the Mind
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- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
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Performance
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Dubbed "the poet laureate of medicine" by The New York Times, Dr. Oliver Sacks is one of the great medical writers and storytellers of our time. He has transformed our understanding of the human mind and restored narrative to a central place in the practice of medicine. His best-selling books, including Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, and An Anthropologist on Mars, entertain, enlighten, and inspire his many fans around the world.
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Very Revelatory
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Livewired
- The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain
- By: David Eagleman
- Narrated by: David Eagleman
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How can a blind person learn to see with her tongue or a deaf person learn to hear with his skin? What does a baby born without a nose tell us about our sensory machinery? Might we someday control a robot with our thoughts? And what does any of this have to do with why we dream? The answers to these questions are not right in front of our eyes; they're right behind our eyes. This book is not simply about what the brain is but what it does. Covering decades of research to the present day, Livewired also presents new findings from Eagleman's own research.
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There are some good bits but overall very labored
- By Roger D. on 08-11-20
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How Music Works
- By: David Byrne
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
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Best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the iconic band Talking Heads, David Byrne has received Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the insightful How Music Works, Byrne offers his unique perspective on music - including how music is shaped by time, how recording technologies transform the listening experience, the evolution of the industry, and much more.
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Listen enthralled - music to your ears!
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A Leg to Stand On
- By: Oliver Sacks
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When Oliver Sacks, a physician by profession, injured his leg while climbing a mountain, he found himself in an unusual position - that of patient. The injury itself was severe but straightforward to fix; the psychological effects, however, were far less easy to predict, explain, or resolve: Sacks experienced paralysis and an inability to perceive his leg as his own, instead seeing it as some kind of alien and inanimate object over which he had no control. A Leg to Stand On is both an account of Sacks’ ordeal and subsequent recovery and an exploration of the ways in which mind and body are inextricably linked.
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Gratitude
- By: Oliver Sacks
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- Unabridged
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Oliver Sacks died in August 2015 at his home in Greenwich Village, surrounded by his close friends and family. He was 82. He spent his final days doing what he loved: playing the piano, swimming, enjoying smoked salmon - and writing. As Dr Sacks looked back over his long, adventurous life his final thoughts were of gratitude. In a series of remarkable, beautifully written and uplifting meditations, in Gratitude Dr Sacks reflects on and gives thanks for a life well lived and expresses his thoughts on growing old, facing terminal cancer and reaching the end.
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How to Write One Song
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- Narrated by: Jeff Tweedy
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- Unabridged
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There are few artistic acts more mysterious than writing a song. But what if a shift in perspective - and some practical guidance - could overcome that mystery? Anyone wanting to experience more creativity and mindfulness will be inspired to do just that after listening to How to Write One Song. Why one song? The difference between one song and many songs isn't a charming semantic trick - it's an important distinction that can simplify a notoriously confusing art form.
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Truly Inspiring
- By Anonymous User on 30-11-20
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The Idea of the Brain
- A History
- By: Matthew Cobb
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of our quest to understand the most mysterious object in the universe. Today we tend to picture the brain as a computer. Earlier scientists thought about it in their own technological terms: as a telephone switchboard, or a clock, or all manner of fantastic mechanical or hydraulic devices. Could the right metaphor unlock the brain's deepest secrets once and for all? Galloping through centuries of wild speculation and ingenious, sometimes macabre anatomical investigations, scientist and historian Matthew Cobb reveals how we came to our present state of knowledge.
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Stunning overview and history of neuroscience
- By Coolade on 10-04-20
Summary
Oliver Sacks’ compassionate tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we think of our own minds.
In Musicophilia, he examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians and everyday people - those struck by affliction, unusual talent and even, in one case, by lightning - to show not only that music occupies more areas of our brain than language does but also that it can torment, calm, organise and heal.
Always wise and compellingly listenable, these stories alter our conception of who we are and how we function and show us an essential part of what it is to be human.
Critic reviews
"A humane discourse on the fragility of our minds, of the bodies that give rise to them, and of the world they create for us. This book is filled with wonders." (Daily Telegraph)
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What listeners say about Musicophilia
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- ⚙️🦁🌿UrbanSmash 🇬🇧🇬🇩🇩🇲
- 04-01-19
Hallucinations & Epilepsy
As the title may suggest, I thought this was a book about the love of music. It’s not. It’s as much about music phobia as it is about musicophilia. As a musician who adores music, I’m always keen to learn more. However, this audiobook is a depressing account of neurological disorders from patients, many of whom have no love nor affinity for music at all. Several times I had to switch off this audiobook as it was disturbing, irritating or incessantly annoying. I like to finish what I start, but after a few of hours, I simply could not take anymore. I gave up on this audiobook and requested a full refund. This may be a good book for neurosurgeons and medical students. But for a lovers of music, musicophiliacs like myself, this book is the opposite of pleasant.
5 people found this helpful
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- Thomas
- 11-03-19
A solid Oliver Sacks book
It's a good book about neurological curiosities, that follows the trend of every other book Sacks wrote. I would strongly recommend that new listeners start with "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat", as earlier in his writing career, Sacks had even more weird and wonderful stories. Some accounts get reprised here a bit, and it's a good follow-up.
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- Tamás
- 25-01-21
To almost everybody.
Recommended to everyone who loves music and wonders about the weirdness of the brain. Enjoy!
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- Nik
- 30-04-20
Exceptional life work
Was a bit too technical most of the time. Was expecting something more philosophical. Turned out to be a well-written and important neurology book
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- Anonymous User
- 04-04-19
Incredible
Oliver Sacks has done it again! Brilliant. Great narrating. Accessible language. A must for anyone interested in music and/or the human brain.