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Posts Tagged ‘knowledge’

Oliver Sack’s Musicophilia bridges the gap between music and the brain by using case studies he has personally dealt with and otherwise. The stories range from the totally bizarre to the horribly tragic. Music can affect the brain in peculiar ways. The studies cover how music cannot only be a miracle for the brain but also a torturous thing that haunts it.

The book is organized with chapters that focus on specific ways in which music affects the brain. The book primarily focuses on telling the stories of those affected by music. However, it also analyzes the stories to an extent and talks about how our knowledge of music and the brain has grown because of the case presented. The conclusions that Sacks draws throughout the book are interesting and engaging.

One particularly engaging story was about a Parkinson’s patient who used the mesmerizing sounds of a drum circle to calm the tics. His circle consisted of other Parkinson’s patients. Sacks recalls watching this inspiring group all sit down at their respective drums, doing their best to not let their tics get in the way as they waited for the leader to start. As soon as he did, the tics stopped almost instantaneously. It was as if some unexplainable force of nature had somehow seeped into the bodies of these patients and enraptured them in serenity and control. It has been proven that a steady, predictable drumbeat, when played in the presence of Parkinson’s patients, can almost completely prevent any tics for the duration of the drumming. Even so, we have not even scratched the surface when it comes to using music in a therapeutic setting. That being said, Sacks uses this case and many more to prove that the beneficial effects of music are simply overwhelming and must be investigated further.

For anyone who is interested in music, psychology, or just wants to be amazed, Musicophilia is an excellent read and is extremely informative. This book hopefully will encourage many to see the importance of continued research in the field of music psychology.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is written by Robert Kiyosaki, a well-known and best-selling author of many a books regarding personal finance. I happened to pick up a copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad over the weekend thanks to its catchy tagline or maybe I though it could help my ever dwindling bank balance! This book has been on the New York Times best-selling list for many years and it has numerous other credits to its name.

Rich Dad Poor Dad deals with many a theme such as the fact that it is wise to practice financial literacy by avoiding debt and starting business and real estate. Robert’s book tells us to gain more and more knowledge about financial markets and finance related terms because most of the people lose money not because they are foolish, rather they tend to lose because of lack of knowledge.

According to the book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, financial literacy should be treated like learning another language and one must be apt at it. As one learns more and more about basic financial terms and practices to become more financially literate, one begins to pay more attention to details such as financial statements, assets, liabilities, credit and debt and other components of the financial world. These terms would either have been ignored earlier or one just simply did not know anything about them.

In the book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert refers to his real dad as “poor dad” as a symbol to all those people who are always running the Rat Race, helplessly trapped in a vicious cycle of needing more but never able to satisfy their dreams all because of one glaring lack: financial literacy. On the other hand, the man referred to as “Rich Dad” is his neighborhood friend’s father who has never finished eighth grade yet owns warehouses, a company and a chain of three restaurants.

His “Rich Dad” represents those independent and wealthy people of the world who consciously and deliberately take advantage of their personal knowledge of tax and accounting and manipulate it to their advantage to enjoy huge success in this world.