Why does music have such a powerful effect on our minds and bodies? It is the most mysterious and most tangible of all forms of art. Yet, Anthony Storr believes, music today is a deeply significant experience for a greater number of people than ever before. In this book, he explores why this should be so. Drawing on a wide variety of opinions, Storr argues t hat the patterns of music make sense of our inner experience, giving both structure and coherence to our feelings and emotions. It is because music possesses this capacity to restore our sense of personal wholeness in a culture which requires us to separate rational thought from feelings that many people find it so life-enhancing that it justifies existence. The author also wrote "Churchill's Black Dog".

Anthony Storr

當代英國最富盛名且首屈一指的精神醫學學者《邱吉爾的黑狗》作者 生於1920年，負笈劍橋基督學院與西敏醫院。1944年取得醫師資格，隨即專攻精神醫學。

著作包括《人格的統整》〔The Integrity of the Personality,1960〕、《人類的破壞力》〔Human Destructiveness,1972〕、《榮格》〔Jung,1973〕、《創造的動力》〔The Dynamics of Creation,1972〕、《精神醫療的藝術》〔The Art of Psychotherapy,1979〕、《孤獨》〔Solitude,1988〕、《佛洛依德》〔Freud,1989〕、《音樂與心靈》〔Music and the Mind,1992〕及《泥腳》〔Feet of Clay,1996〕。文章散見多傢報紙，包括Sunday Times、Times Literary Supplement與Independent。

Storr為皇傢醫師協會會員、皇傢精神醫師協會會員及皇傢文學協會會員，也是牛津郡衛生局精神科學榮譽顧問及牛津葛林學院名譽研究員。 譯者簡介鄧伯宸成功大學外文係畢業，曾任報社編譯、主筆、副總編輯、總經理，獲中國時報文學獎附設鬍適百歲誕辰紀念徵文優等獎，現為《新觀念》雜誌專欄作者，譯有《影子大地》、《族群》、《邱吉爾的黑狗》等。