The  Oliver Sacks book I have chosen to read for this project is Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.  As Dr. Sacks stated in an interview I watched, “music plays a part in most of our lives”.  This is indeed true.  Music is known as a universal language.  Most people can relate to music in one way or another. There are so many different types of music, from classical to heavy metal.  Certain types of music relate to some people while others resonate with different types.  But music has been a part of humanity for many centuries.  While most of us just enjoy music or going to a concert, or perhaps playing our own, some people have extraordinary tales of musical related incidents.  This book is a compilation of different stories of people who have had unique experiences with music.  Some people have had brain injuries due to an accident while others were atypical in some way.  One story was about an incredible situation of a man who was struck by lightning.  After it happened he suddenly felt the need to listen to piano music.  He was never interested in that type of music before his accident, but after, he felt compelled to listen to it. He started looking for any piano music he could find.  Soon he had the desire to play the music himself.  Ironically he was able to get his hands on a used piano that someone was getting rid of. After he acquired the piano he began to teach himself to play.  Another interesting case was that of a guy named Matt Giordano.  Matt suffered from Tourette Syndrome.  At the age of 12 he was suicidal because he could not control his violent outbursts against his family.  During his four year stay in the hospital he discovered drumming.  He learned to play the drums and became very good at it, and he also discovered it helped control his ticks. He referred to it as “washing out the ticks”.  The way music has impacted and has helped people is incredible.  Music therapy is used in hospitals for sick patients because it is recognized as being healing.  It’s even used in the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit).  The subject for my project is going to be anxiety and depression, which go hand in hand but I will mainly focus on anxiety.  As someone who has suffered from it, music has helped me immensely.  It is a comfort and it is uplifting and inspiring as well as an outlet. That is why I chose this book.  Both art and music have played a very important role in my life and they are how I cope. Dr. Sacks has done very interesting and extensive research on the effects of music and the brain.  I definitely recommend this book.