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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 2007)
We’re cooking up something for everyone! S ERVING V EGANS & V EGETARIANS W E HAVE A TERRIFIC M EAT H EARTY M ENU FOR N ON - VEGETARIANS 395 W. 5th, Eugene • Corner of Lawrence since 1979 (541) 342-2075 • TheKeystoneCafe.com Open Monday-Thursday 7-2 • Friday-Saturday 7-3 • Sunday 8-3 Breakfast all day & lunch Monday-Friday @ 11. m v D RING in the Holidays! R OBIN M IX – J EWELER Sterling Silver & 14K Gold WITH Sterling Silver & 14K Gold O NLY A T IMAGINE GALLERY 5th Street Public Market • 2nd Level Courtyard Mind Over Music MUSICOPHILIA: TALES OF MUSIC AND THE BRAIN by Oliver Sacks. KNOPF, 2007. HARDCOVER, $26. Music is not necessary for human life to exist. It has no symbols, images or rep- resentations. And yet, for all music’s apparent uselessness, it makes humanity what it is; we are a species of musi- cophiliacs. That is, we love music for what it does to us emotionally, spiritually, physiologically. But what interests Oliver Sacks here, as it interested him in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and earlier works, is the many variations in how individual brains process internal and external stimuli (this time the stimu- lus is music). Time and time again in Musicophilia, Sacks reaches the same conclusion: Music seems to transcend the brain and enrich and enhance our concrete sense of self. As is particular with Sacks, he focuses on case studies, usually patients he has had over the many years he has held pri- vate practice. Most have had lifelong mal- adies, such as John S., a young man with Tourette’s syndrome whose uncontrollable tics are tempered by “certain kinds of music heavy with rhythm,” while others have had split-second disasters affect their brains in profoundly curious ways. Tony Cicoria, a surgeon with no musical inclina- tions, is transformed into an obsessive composer and piano prodigy after he is struck by lightning. But perhaps the most intriguing and bittersweet case Sacks describes is that of Clive Wearing, who, due to an attack of herpes encephalitis, has anterograde and retrograde amnesia; he remembers very little of his past and can make no new memories. Clive has an attention span of about 15 seconds and yet, almost miraculously, he can sing, con- duct small orchestras, play his piano. Through music, Clive finds a present light to grasp onto from the brink of darkness. Sacks’ tome, textbookish in its breadth, lends creedence to what T.S. Eliot writes in The Four Quartets: “You are the music / While the music lasts.” — Chuck Adams Milton’s Wet Dream THE SHOCK DOCTRINE: THE RISE OF DISASTER CAPITALISM by Naomi Klein. METROPOLITAN BOOKS, 2007. HARDCOVER, $28. It seems at once absurd and absurdly low, the price of this new book by jour- nalist Naomi Klein (No Logo). Americans 26 DECEMBER 13, 2007 aren’t used to spending $28 for a book thanks to the curious lag in hardcover prices compared to inflation. And it’s so painful to read Klein’s book, a narrative tying torture to economic theory, that even the hopeful final chapter barely rouses a flickering flame of optimism. Who would pay for that? Yet for her meticulously researched tome, for her clarity in explaining just how Milton Friedman and his minions came to domi- nate world economic discourse by throw- ing their lot in with the ilk of Augusto Pinochet, whatever recompense she earns can’t be enough. It’s a global view, her discussion of shock economics, and its theory is clear: Friedman’s Chicago School dis- ciples believe free- market capitalism is the answer to every problem. But many governments try to regulate or soften free markets. In order to remake a state for unrestrained free- market capitalism, the people must be less able to resist. And that happens after a crisis — say, Pinochet’s coup in 1973 (and other U.S.-funded dirty wars in Latin America) or, obviously, Sept. 11. Klein links the sudden rise in fortunes of rapacious transnational companies (Jeremy Scahill’s Blackwater would be an great companion read) to their ability to capitalize on disasters. The Friedmanites don’t cause the disasters; they’re just incredibly well-prepared to take advantage of chaos. But, Klein notes, people and governments in Latin America are fighting back — and so can we. Friedman would hate it if you used the “socialized” library services to check out Shock Doctrine or if you banded with friends to purchase it. Small gestures indeed, but another economist, E.F. Schumacher, reminds us that small is beautiful. Or perhaps powerful: Friedman stood only 5 feet tall. — Suzi Steffen Attention Must Be Paid HOLD EVERYTHING DEAR: DISPATCHES ON SURVIVAL AND RESISTANCE by John Berger. PANTHEON, 2007. HARDCOVER, $21. This slim vol- ume of essays and ellliptically crafted thoughts alternate- ly provokes and reassures. Berger, most famous for Ways of Seeing, addresses with his characteristic power everything from September 11 to the reasons sui- cide bombers might choose that path. I found it challenging to stay with him as he bounced between the 2005 bomb- ings in London and the outrageous police state occasioned in Britain by the War on Terror, but his thoughtful medita- tions on the despair of the poor (espe- cially Palestinians) give power to a narra- tive Americans rarely get to hear. One of the reasons Berger seems so provocative, clearly, is that much of the
