Old or New - I Will Read You

A couple of weeks back I wrote about my good fortune to borrow a Kindle from my company. I had to give it back a week later but I think I'll get one again in the next month or so and will get to hang on to it for a while. In the absence of the high-tech device, I had to go old school. Some time ago I purchased and read Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks after hearing him talk about it on NPR's Fresh Air. The book is about brain damage as it relates to music. There is a story of a man who was struck by lightning and became obsessed with playing the piano though he had never done so before. Stories of folks who have seizures if they hear a certain kind of music. Stories of music as therapy for sufferers of Tourette's Syndrome, Parkinson's disease, and speech problems. And about 15 more. Sacks is best known because of the movie Awakenings which is based on his book of the same name. He is the author of the book and is the doctor portrayed by Robin Williams in the movie. Back to Musicophilia, I was completely mesmerized by the stories in the book if not enamored with Sacks' writing style. The topics were so fascinating I'll be sure to read more from him in the future. Also I plan to give a Toastmasters speech about a story from the book. I haven't settled on the particular story yet, but a strong contender is the effect music therapy has had on a man who can only remember the past six seconds of his life because of brain trauma. The only problem is I have lent my copy the book to a friend that I haven't seen in a while. The San Diego library comes to the rescue! This is the first time I tried out their delivery service and it worked beautifully. I requested the book online. A couple of days later it's at my local branch and I picked it up on the way home from work. Lovely! I hope libraries never go away. I'm on a new dish kick in the kitchen. The last three as well as the next three scheduled dinners are all first tries for me. Tonight's was Korean-Inspired Sautéed Tofu. Like the two before it, it was another winner. It's a vegetarian dish, but I did add a side of Johnsonville Sausages that I had on hand (not pictured). That probably upset the fat balance of the meal a bit but it was super yummy. Hopefully the next three will also be successes. Good new food and an "old school" library visit ... a not-too-shabby Tuesday for Todd.