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Oliver Sacks on Music and the Brain

Published: 23 November 2007

Author visits McGill to discuss new book on the power of music

McGill University and the McGill Bookstore are pleased to welcome Oliver Sacks, neurologist and best-selling author of The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Awakenings. Dr. Sacks will discuss his latest book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, on Thursday, Nov. 29.

In Musicophilia, Dr. Sacks focuses on people afflicted with strange musical disorders or powers: "musical misalignments" that affect their professional and daily lives. The book has been on the New York Times bestseller list for four weeks, and is currently at number 11.

Dr. Sacks will be introduced by Dr. Robert Zatorre, McGill Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience and co-director of the International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS). Dr. Sacks references Dr. Zatorre's research extensively in Musicophilia.

What: Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

When: Thursday, Nov. 29, 7 p.m.

Who: Author Oliver Sacks

Where: McGill University, Leacock Building, room 132, 855 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, QC

Oliver Sacks is the author of 10 books and has received numerous awards, including the Polk Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and lives in New York, where he is a professor of clinical neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University.

Tickets for this event are sold out but space remains for a limited number of media. Free tickets for seats in the overflow room are still available at the McGill Bookstore, 3rd floor, 3420 McTavish St.

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