The Fall of a Sparrow by Robert Hellenga

I really loved this book, even the second time I read it. It's beautifully written and has something for everyone ... tragedy, foreign travel, terrorism, religion, love, sex, forgiveness, eating, humor, music. It's a work of fiction about an English professor at a small college in northern Illinois whose oldest daughter is killed in an event that is actually historical -- the bombing of the Bologna train station. It goes on to show how the different members of the family ... father, mother, and two younger sisters ... adjust to this tragic event. If you've never read anything by Robert Hellenga, you might be surprised at what he's accomplished here.

Reviewed by Cal

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Not that any of you couldn't get just as good of an idea about the book by picking it up and reading the back cover, here's a brief description of what tales of the mysterious and fascinating human brain Oliver Sacks has included in this book.

I imagine that several of you have already read this book, and if you are not one of those people you should be soon. This book contains all the usual elements to a great Oliver Sacks book. Amazing brain studies and curious brain "disorders" or variations. When you are reading his books, for that moment, you always just want to be able to experience for a few hours what people of various diseases or disorders are experiencing. However, with this book, the things aren't color blindness or autism (well they are actually in a couple of stories), but more like absolute tone deafness and 'amusia.' I want to know what it's like to have musical hallucinations because he describes them so well that it is hard for me to imagine that other people in the world are experiencing something so vastly different than I am simply because the hear music in a different way. He talks about different variations of synesthesia and people with Williams' syndrome. He talks about musician's dystonia and brain worms and rhythm. He talks about music in ways that I have never though about before and I have definitely grown a little through reading this book.

People on the subway who saw me reading this book, more so than any other book I have read, commeneted on how they "love that book" and "Isn't that book amazing!" So take it for what you will, I think that this book, a book on music - which is such a big part of all of our lives - is a book that really affects people on a deeper level than most books I have been reading on the subway. And even if you aren't transformed, you will at least enjoy the stories which Oliver Sacks is so skilled at putting onto paper.