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Summary: What it means to be human
Review: This series of case studies of patients with assorted neurological disorders seems to me really to be a study of human nature itself. With compassion, Dr. Sacks examines people who are profoundly disadvantaged and unable to communicate, or to experience life as most of us do, and yet finds the humanity, and even the beauty, within. At the same time, it is extremely educational at a lay-person's level.
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Summary: . . . a thinking person's storyteller . . .
Review: Although in "The Man..." Oliver Sacks focuses on specific neurological anomalies, in the process of describing how patients deal with their unique problems he presents far more than information about just a disease or a person. He reveals something about our nature as human beings. By exploring the micro levels of deficits, he shows us the macro dimensions of positive physical resources we either didn't know about or just tend to take for granted. Sacks is a thinking person's storyteller. His curiosity, intellectual humility, and keen diagnostic insight join together to bring him and the reader to truly redemptive discoveries about the resilience and transcendence of the brain and nervous system(s). What a book! You can't just read it; you are compelled to ponder it and live it.
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Summary: Exists on 2 levels, one better than the other
Review: This book could be read on two levels: in a clinical sense, with its million-dollar scientific terms and long winded, detailed description of methods and diagnoses; and in an anecdotal sense, as stories about quirky, remarkable characters. After reading a bit, I preferred to continue reading with the latter approach in mind, and was distracted by the clinical stuff. I felt it really took away from the amazing stories therein. Additionally, Sacks was kind of self-aggrandizing, and didn't so much place his patients as the book's center as he did himself, and his assessment of their eccentricities.
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Summary: Very Good Reading
Review: This is an excelent book! The clinical tales are captive and you will not feel like stopping the reading. The mysteries of the brain misfunctions are exposed and you would probably never think that such cases would ever happen. If you like this book I would strongly suggest "Defending the Cavewoman" from Doctor Klawans ( he and Oliver Sacks were friends. Also Oliver Sacks is very clear and shows an extraordinary knowledge not only from his field but also from philosophy and a great sensibility with his patients delicate situation.
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Summary: Sacks, lives and videotape.
Review: Oliver Sacks, famed neuropsychologist, holds a unique position amongst popular science writers following the film dramatisation of his book Awakenings. 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat' reinforces his standing as a brilliant medic and gifted communicator. A balanced approach to the writing makes it accessible to scientist and lay man alike. The book successfully refrains from clinical coldness but the distinct nature and number cases creates a slightly curt, stop-and-start feel. I feel that one ought to note that the insight Sacks gives us owes much to things learnt from illness and damage to particular regions of the brain. I appreciate that this may hit a little close to home for those who have a more intimate understanding of such conditions. Sadly, a case study would never do true justice to the patients' personalities, fears and strengths. However, Sacks' tone is never dispassionate and the ingenuity of some of his patients shines through. All in all, this remains an interesting and somewhat awe-inspiring introduction to the workings of the mind.
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Summary: A great read for any person interested in the human mind
Review: I love this book. I first read it as an undegraduate English major, and it fascinated me with its accounts of people with various neurological deficits and excesses. Non-medical professionals will have no trouble appreciating Sacks' writing, which is clear and free of complicated medical jargon. I have revisited this book since graduating from medical school and I continue to find it fascinating and the writing itself a delight, as Sacks is a writer with a strong, clear "voice." For me, the book stimulated much thought on the nature of the human mind, and the concept of the Self that we all carry. It's one of my all-tme favorite books, one I would recommend to readers who enjoy literature and works of philosophy as well as medicine. Looking over the other reviews, one sees a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews, with the occasional "I hated it" review. For exmaple, one reader cited what she called Sacks' "horribly cruel and unempathetic tone." I didn't detect such a tone in Sacks' writing, and I'm surprised that anyone did. (He does refer to persons with mental retardation as "retardates," which was then the accepted, medical, "politically-correct" term for such individuals. One era's PC term is the next era's faux pas, and I suspect instances of this phenomenon account for some of the negative reviews.) I guess it is a matter of perception, and depends upon your own experiences, etc. Some people have very definite ideas about how medical cases should be discussed; this book did not offend any of my ideas on that subject. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: A must read for families facing Alzheimer's Disease
Review: My Husband, Tom's, neurologist recommended that I read this book as a means of helping me understand what was happening to Tom's brain. Tom died of Alzheimer's in 1995. This book is not about Alzheimer's but in many ways it gave me more insight than anything else I read. I reasoned that if the brain can manifest the extremes in behaviors and misinterpretations exhibited in the case studies Dr. Sacks highlights then perhaps a brain deteriorating randomly, as it does in Alzheimer's, can also mainifest similar behaviors and misinterpretations. It helped me immesnsely in figuring out what was behind his behaviors and his losses and I dared to allow myself to enter his world and see that world through his eyes. I detail some of these moments of insight in my book, "He Used to be Somebody, A Journey Into Alzheimer's Through the Eyes of a Caregiver," and how this insight translated in his care. (Tom died in our home after a 14 year battle with this disease. If he knew nothing else he knew his was loved. We should all be so lucky.) Dr. Sacks never loses sight of the human being facing the challenges he writes so eloquently of. He has that quality which allows him to see past the symptoms and into the soul of the person. The lesson is that the disease does not define the person. Alzheimer's is no exception. I highly recommend this reading for families and professionals working with this Alzheimer's and other dementia.
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Summary: Very interesting clinical studies
Review: This is an astonishing book, it chronicles the various, notable, cases treated by Dr. Sacks. People who had deficiencies in perception or over compensation in senses are presented w/ taste and humanity and never reduced to objects. The case studies while clinical are presented in a compassionate narrative that makes it accessible to the lay person. Questions of personal identity always interested me during my philosophy classes and a few of these cases actually provide firm factual bases for the theories postulated. In the chapters he touches on people who become no longer aware of their physical attributes or presence, people who lose their memories after 10 minute spans, making up reality as they go along, and people who suffer amnesia of a type where they are unable to progress beyond a certain date in time, thinking it's the 1940's. Towards the end he touches on autists, those with hyper-abilities with numbers, or art, yet are unable often to talk or express themselves otherwise. I highly recommend this book, and wish it would have been in the curriculum for some of my philosophy of mind classes. I will be reading more of Dr. Sack's works.
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Summary: comfortable but not deep
Review: This is merely a series of case studies written in a very comfortable but superficial manner. It is still a great book to those who are interested in psycology but who don't understand extremely scientific terms. I was ten when this book came out and I enjoyed it as much then as I do now. Perhaps it's this very simplistic style that so upsets those who approach the book with many expectations and previous knowledge. I'd advise this book to those without previous background or as a book to read when you are too tired for a heavier read.
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Summary: Well-written and sympathetic; not condescending
Review: I always find Sacks's works well-written and moving. He seems to have the gift of putting himself in the patient's place, never condescending, always accepting. It's unfortunate perhaps that some reviewers find Sacks 'disrespectful' to the 'mentally ill'. But Sacks's patients aren't mentally ill; they have neurological illnesses. To confuse the two is to grievously insult both the mentally ill *and* the neurologically ill. As a neuro patient I've had my fill of the falsely kind, condescending and ignorant; Sacks is none of the above, and that is why his works are so appealing.
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