Oliver Sacks - Musicophilia (x-post amazon)

This book is a marvel to read. Oliver Sacks is an unafraid, and intelligent presenter of ways in which the brain and music interact. It is quite probably the best introduction to how your brain and music work together available, and it is also filled with stories of different ways in which the gentle balance our brain requires can be distorted. The way in which he presents facts is easy-going and often supplemented with a story about specific individuals, making it easier to set the functions he describe into context. He also presents himself in a friendly manner throughout the book, without succumbing to the trap of making himself the central theme of the book. His presentations of the abnormalities encountered in humanity when it comes to processing and using sound/music are almost always interesting, and they make you think about just how differently perceived this world can be. That such great changes require such little physical alteration is incredibly fascinating, and it becomes obvious throughout the book just how great of a tool the human brain, and for that matter, music, really is.