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Waking the Spirit
- Author
- Andrew Schulman
- Narrator
- Andrew Schulman
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 24 March 2026
- Run Time
- 8 hours 34 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Revised, updated, and beautifully accompanied by music performed by the author, this audiobook is the astounding story of a critically ill musician who is saved by music and returns to the same hospital to help heal others.
Andrew Schulman, a fifty-seven-year-old professional guitarist, had a close brush with death on the night of July 16, 2009. Against the odds—and with the help of music—he survived: a medical miracle.
Once fully recovered, Andrew resolved to use his musical gifts to help critically ill patients at Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s intensive care unit. In Waking the Spirit, you’ll learn the astonishing stories of the people he has met along the way—both patients and doctors—and see the incredible role music can play in a modern hospital setting.
Schulman expertly weaves cutting-edge research on neuroscience and medicine, as well as what he has learned as a professional musician, to explore the power of music to heal the body and awaken the spirit.
Critics Review
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“He talks with neuroscientists and psychiatrists and explores the legacy of Pythagoras, the ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher who was among the first to recognize the healing properties of music.”
New York Times Book Review
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“Inspirational.”
Publishers Weekly
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“Offers evidence of the calming, stabilizing, and synchronous (‘entrainment’) physical effects music therapy can have on a patient’s nervous system, pain, and overall health…[A] testament to the limitless benefits of music and its role in health care.”
Kirkus Reviews
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“I think the world has been waiting for this book.”
Bill McGlaughlin, host and music director of the public radio programs Exploring Music and Saint Paul Sunday
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“An inspiring personal story of the ageless power of music to comfort and to heal supported with plentiful compelling scientific evidence.”
Caroline Stoessinger, author of A Century of Wisdom
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“Waking the Spirit is an inspiring story that teaches many important spiritual lessons, but the principal one is that to give thanks, you have to give. By healing others, he healed himself. You will never listen to music in the same way again.”
John Kralik, author of 365 Thank Yous
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“Earnest but affable memoir…[Schulman] talks with neuroscientists and psychiatrists and explores the legacy of Pythagoras, the ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher who was among the first to recognize the healing properties of music. Along the way, Schulman posits that the relationship between the pain we feel and the songs and compositions we love has its roots in a tender, transcendent form of symbiosis.”
Meghan Daum, The New York Times Book Review
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“Waking the Spirit is an inspiring story that teaches many important spiritual lessons, but the principal one is that to give thanks, you have to give. By healing others, he healed himself. You will never listen to music in the same way again.”
John Kralik, author of 365 Thank Yous
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“In the grand tradition of Oliver Sacks’s Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Schulman cannily narrates stories of the ways that music can bring healing not only to the broken spirit but also to the broken body.”
No Depression, Journal of Roots Music
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“An inspirational testament to the limitless benefits
of music and its role in health care.”Kirkus Reviews
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Andrew Schulman
- Narrator
- Andrew Schulman
- Duration
- 8 hours 34 minutes
- Release Date
- 24 March 2026
- ISBN
- 9798228749412
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Biography: science, technology and medicine, Theory of music and musicology, Biography: arts and entertainment, Composers and songwriters, Musicians, singers, bands and groups, Complementary therapies, healing and health
Synopsis
Revised, updated, and beautifully accompanied by music performed by the author, this audiobook is the astounding story of a critically ill musician who is saved by music and returns to the same hospital to help heal others.Andrew Schulman, a fifty-seven-year-old professional guitarist, had a close brush with death on the night of July 16, 2009. Against the odds—and with the help of music—he survived: a medical miracle.Once fully recovered, Andrew resolved to use his musical gifts to help critically ill patients at Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s intensive care unit. In Waking the Spirit, you’ll learn the astonishing stories of the people he has met along the way—both patients and doctors—and see the incredible role music can play in a modern hospital setting.Schulman expertly weaves cutting-edge research on neuroscience and medicine, as well as what he has learned as a professional musician, to explore the power of music to heal the body and awaken the spirit.
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