The British horn player Dennis Brain (1921-1957) is commonly described by such statements as "the greatest horn player of the 20th Century," "a genius," and "a legend." He was both a prodigy and popularizer, famously performing a concerto on a garden hose in perfect pitch. On his usual concert instrument his tone was of unsurpassed beauty and clarity, complemented by a flawless technique. The recordings he made with Herbert von Karajan of Mozart's horn concerti are considered the definitive interpretations. Brain enlisted in the English armed forces during World War II for seven years, joining the National Symphony Orchestra in wartime in 1942. After the war he filled the principal horn positions in both the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. He later formed his own wind quintet and began conducting. Composers including Benjamin Britten and Paul Hindemith lined up to write music for him. Even fifty years after his tragic death at the age of 36 in an auto accident in 1957, Peter Maxwell Davies was commissioned to write a piece in his honor. Stephen Gamble and William Lynch have conducted numerous interviews with family, friends, and colleagues and uncovered information in the BBC archives and other lesser known sources about recordings that were previously unknown. This volume describes Brain's life and analyzes in depth his musical career. Its appendices of information on performances will appeal to music historians, and its details on Brain's instruments and equipment will be useful to horn players.

Dennis Brain is recognized as perhaps the greatest horn player the world has known. He helped rescue the horn from the obscurity in which it had languished for over a century, and revived the public's faith in it as a major solo instrument. Brain restored to the concert platform concertos by Mozart and Haydn, and inspired contemporary composers to write for the horn, most notably the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings by Benjamin Britten, composed during World War II, a piece which is now central to the repertoire of tenors and horn players. Brain died at the tragically young age of thirty-six in a car crash. The beauty of his playing and his untimely death captured the public imagination like no horn player before or since. This biography was reissued thirty years after his death, and includes a discography. The book also contains an appreciation by Benjamin Britten. 'A clear account of Dennis Brain's brilliant career ...' Times Literary Supplement '...an absorbing and extremely well-written account of the orchestral scene in England.'

Theoretical, experimental and clinical perspectives. Readership: Graduate students, postdocs and research scientists in Neuroscience.

At 8,000 miles away from home, a business professional delivers a polished presentation to a group of executives. And within two hours, she forgets how to walk. Talking becomes too strenuous. She is struck by an odd series of neurological deficits that baffle her and a dozen doctors ... for 27 months. Brain Wreck is a must read for anyone who has witnessed the frustration of a mysterious illness. This is a story of determination and an unrelenting journey to save one's mind. With humor and unabashed honesty, the author restores a shattered spirit while striving to be "normal."

There's trivia, and then there's knowledgeÑdeep, extensive, obsessive knowledgeÑmasquerading as trivia. It's the kind of trivia that, if you know the answer, makes you feel triumphant, and if you don't, gives you an education. The kind of trivia based not on what we shouldn't be expected to know, but on what we shouldÑif we're to consider ourselves true fans. Dennis Purdy, author of the just-published Team-by-Team Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball, has been collecting baseball trivia since before he could shave, and now presents the best of the best: a massive collection of over 1,000 trivia games. Not solo questions, but half-page games, every one involving matching multiple players to their accomplishments, or evaluating multiple clues to discover a mystery subject's identity, or digging deep into a round-up of terms, nicknames, phrases, awards, events, individual teams, locations, and more. The games cover three centuries of baseball history. Home run calls and the announcers who made them famous. The peculiar geography of a baseball fieldÑ where's the garden? the gateway? the firing line? Inimitable slang: cackler, chucker, clinker, and squibber. The lesser-known career feats of baseball's ÒBig 3,Ó Ruth, Aaron, and Bonds. World Series potpourriÑThey won the first night game in World Series history. . . . The team that lost the most World SeriesÑ13 . . . The only American League team to lose the World Series in three consecutive seasons . . . And much, much, much more.

Infiltrating the world of neuroscience, Cass becomes a human guinea pig on a darkly comic journey to understand the human brain and find out what makes us who we are.

This book turns the corner and finally provides a convincing explanation of IQ and human intelligence. It begins by rejecting some of the most basic assumptions that psychologists make about intelligence, including that intelligence should be defined by behavior. Instead, it argues that intelligence is about the ability to understand. It then uses recent scientific findings about the brain to show how changes in the brain lead to understanding. Readers will find that this book contains many revelations that will profoundly change their perception of how their own brain works. This book will also explore the startling implication of a sensitive period for developing intelligence, arguing that children can learn differently than adults. Anyone who is interested in how the brain works, why people differ in intelligence, and how a child can be a genius will want to read this book.