Book Review #3

Another in the occasional series covering the words between covers...

Musicophillia (Oliver Sacks)
I was drawn to the cover of this book some time ago, but didn't get around to buying it. I stumbled upon it once more in a little shop in Crows Nest and out of boredom, bought it as something to further my rather lacklustre musical abilities interests.

You should never judge a book by its cover, and whilst I enjoyed it, the happy-go-lucky typographic joy on the front did not match the heavy prose within. Written in the form of a university dissertation, it discusses the author's research into how music affects the brain, both good and bad. It is filled with heart-warming and saddening case stories of patients he has met, as well as some amusing side-notes on his own personal experiences with music. (One footnote tells of how "Like many medical students in the '60s, I was surviving on large doses of amphetamines and discovered a marked change in my perception of music".) It was these amusing musical anecdotes that kept me hooked through the slower sections of this thick romp through conditions from Alzheimer's to Williams' syndrome (I don't think he covered anything beginning with X, Y or Z, but definitely everything in-between A and W!).

As mentioned, it was a heavy read; both my brain and my index finger were weary after finishing it. Well worth a read, if you want to know just how strongly music affects us all.

Rupert's Adventures in China: How Murdoch lost a fortune and found a wife (Bruce Dover)
Comprising two subjects that are hard to find a balanced and unbiased viewpoint on, Bruce Dover (an ex-News Corp executive) introduces Murdoch to the reader in what appears to be a fairly frank way. He is praised for his successes and his failures are fully documented. It was a pleasant read (although compared to Musicophilia which I had read previously, anything would be an easy read) and the author's style is engaging; I managed to finish it within a week.

The author also paints a fairly frank picture of the Chinese government and its myriad departments and factions. Not knowing that much about the inner workings of Murdoch or the Chinese government, I can't say how true his recollections are, however for the most part, he manages to avoid bitterness towards Murdoch (who fired him) and the Chinese who thwarted his attempts at entry into the lucrative domestic satellite TV market; in 99% of the book, he remains up-beat about Murdoch and summarises the goings on of the government with a level of abstraction.

Worth a read, if only so that you can argue about its findings :)