I think there is no culture in which music is not very important and central. That's why I think of us as a sort of musical species.

Fascinating, Doidge's book is a remarkable and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the human brain.

In examining disease, we gain wisdom about anatomy and physiology and biology. In examining the person with disease, we gain wisdom about life.

It is up to me now to choose how to live out the months that remain to me.

I think hallucinations need to be discussed. There are all sorts of hallucinations, and then many sorts which are okay, like the ones I think which most of us have in bed at night before we fall asleep, when we can see all sorts of patterns or faces and scenes.

It seems that the brain always has to be active, and if the auditory parts of the brain are not getting sufficient input, then they may start to create hallucinatory sounds on their own. Although it is curious that they do not usually create noises or voices; they create music.

Much more of the brain is devoted to movement than to language. Language is only a little thing sitting on top of this huge ocean of movement.