Science and Music, No Let Up

Just minutes ago, I watched PBS' Nova Musical Minds, where neurologist Oliver Sacks explores how the brain deals with music. Turns out that Sacks' brain seems to have the same relative emotional reaction to Bach that I must have -- we both greatly prefer Bach to Beethoven, and in his case, he can measure or map the difference with an MRI, a FMRI (functional magnetic resonance image) to be more precise. Watch it online and check out the online extras!

By the way, I have my old and dear friend Ann to thank for bringing Oliver Sacks to my attention quite some time ago. His Musicophilia book is on my Amazon wish list, just waiting for me to get after it. Ann also highly recommends Sack's The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales.

And in my final sidebar, you should know that Ann -- Ann Nietzke -- is a wonderful and highly acclaimed writer herself, about whom I will try to have much more to say before long.

UPDATE 13 JULY 2009: Today I was surprised to find a package on my doorstep containing a copy of Oliver Sacks' Musicophila sent to me by dear niece Gabrielle! You can guess how I will spend the evening ...