Couldn't have a show about psychology and different states of consciousness without some Grateful Dead. This song specifically warns listeners about the dangers of cocaine (and other amphetamines). This is directly relevant to the anecdote in this book referring to some unnamed man's terrifying experience with a cocktail of various psychoactive substances (later Sacks revealed that chapter to be about his own experiences). Don't do cocaine, kids!

This album was explicitly named after today's book, so it felt important to include a song off of it. This song fits the sort of dreamy indie/folk rock vibe of the beginning of today's show and is about writing, which is a difficult task for some of the patients in the book. I don't know, I think I'm reaching here. Some might even say I'm writing to reach you here.

Another song about drugs, but at least these are over-the-counter substances. This is a song about mental health and Ela Melo's experiences with depression and suicidal ideation. As a band that covers these and other relevant topics frequently, they fit right into this list. I'd imagine that Sacks would have some interesting thoughts on today's debates surrounding the stigmatization of mental health...

An 8-minute masterpiece of a song, guided by Suryakant Sawhney's dreamy vocals, this song has very little to do with today's book lyrically. However, the title gives us much to think about. What is a memory box? What would you keep in your memory box? Do Sacks' patients have different "memory boxes" or are they just damaged? Am I getting stuck on my soap box? Let me off, I'm afraid of heights!

As the title suggests, this song is very brain-focused. While Pink Floyd was mostly leaning metaphorical here, Sacks was delightfully literal in his understanding of his patients. While most psychologists of his time pathologized their patients and confined them to the diagnostic boxes they were assigned, Sacks found his patients to be fascinating windows into how the brain works (and what happens when it doesn't). Just as Pink Floyd broke barriers of what music could be, Sacks pushed the boundaries of clinical psychology. Now that's an allusion!

While this might be a better song to use for another of Sack's books, Musicophilia, I haven't read that book so I can't use it. I'll get around to it eventually, and when I do, please don't call me out for reusing this song. Regardless, this song might be familiar to the experience of many synesthetes, who hear music when exposed to seemingly unrelated stimuli. Not sure if that's what Madison Cunningham was going for, but I like this song.

This one's a little on the nose, don't you think? Oliver Sacks encounters and describes many people with aphasia, all while providing them with whichever tools he can to help them communicate. Maybe Evan Stephens Hall could use some of Sacks' help with communicating.

This is a question I am sure many of Sacks' patients asked at some point. And one that many of us have asked at some point in the last few years. Life is hard, and it's comforting to know the Pixies agree. But Sacks has a way of painting hard scenarios as something that can be beautiful or, at the very least, interesting. Stay interesting!

Coming full circle with this one. Sorry The Brook & The Bluff, it looks like we've decided to keep slipping away instead. Such is the nature of time, neurodegeneration, love--all that stuff. But it's not all bad! We've had an hour of fun music and cool brain discussion with the help of Oliver Sacks (who I'm distantly related to! by marriage). And we'll do it all again next week! Bye for now :)