Rating: 
Summary: You must read this book
Review: His beliefe in looking at the man in the disease rather than the disease in the man makes this book as rivoting as a thriller as he explores phenomina in the patients that visit him. The love for his patients and their shared frustration at their strange problems brought tears to my eyes at times and had me hooting with laughter at others. Please, please start this book. You will not be able to stop once you start.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating
Review: The first thing I did after reading this book was to hop back onto Amazon.con and order "Awakenings" and "An Anthropolgist on Mars." This book was recommended by one of my philosophy professors in college about six years ago. Well, it took me six years to pick it up, and I don't regret the decision. As a complete layperson, my eyes were opened to what a complex piece of machinery the brain is. Sack's personal perspective on these patients disorders is what takes this interesting material and makes it fascinating reading. The only problem I had with this book was that I was disappointed to see most every chapter end. I wanted to know more about most every case. I only rank it 4 instead of 5 for that reason (It could have been more in-depth) and a couple of the cases were simply mildly interesting rather than mind-bending. It's almost imcrompehensible to perceive the world and one's self in the same manner as some of these unfortunate people. I was especially intrigued by one of the questions Sack's brings up concerning the case history discussed in the chapter "The Lost Mariner." A man can remember nothing for more than a few seconds. His entire life, all of his experiences are gone almost as soon as they are past. "He is a man without a past (or future), stuck in a constantly changing, meaningless moment," Sacks writes. Sacks then ponders the question that will stop your heart: "Does he have a soul?" If you have ever been bothered by the question of the spiritual nature of man, Sacks --who stops well short of reaching any theological conclusions -- will disturb you with this material. From that standpoint, he is brilliant at informing by simply forcing the reader to ask questions of his or her self...questions which Sack's himself admits even he has no clue as to the answers. This book could change your perspective on life, or simply entertain you as an interesting novelty. In any case, I very highly recommend it...can't wait to get into "Anthropologist" next.
Rating:
Summary: A good read for a lay-person
Review: While a neurologist, Sacks' book doesn't read like a neurologist's report at all. He tells his fascinating case studies without bogging the reader down with technological mumbo-jumbo. Really, really interesting!!
Rating:
Summary: A deeply moving clinical narrative.
Review: Dr. Oliver Sacks, whom Robin Williams portrayed in the movie "Awakenings," has put together a series of short narratives, in which he describes the neurological / perceptual difficulties encountered by patients he has treated. These conditions are often attributable to some neurological "deficit," and I am sure that Dr. Sacks' medical analyses are accurate; however, what touched me most was the author's humanity and sensitivity to these patients. Dr. Sacks is truly an empathic individual, and this comes across clearly. I found myself re-reading several of the chapters. A fascinating and engrossing book.
Rating:
Summary: 24 Fasinating, Bizarre Neurological Case Studies
Review: This is probably Sacks' best book for the general reader because he avoids copious footnotes and long, convoluted asides. He tells the fascinating stories of two dozen neurological patients, and I found the book both delightful to read and amazing to ponder. It's the best book of medical case studies out on the market.
Rating:
Summary: Brains amiss
Review: Entertaining reading about the workings of the bizarro mind. Superman never met people more off center than you'll meet here. The kind of honest, deeply held perception errors these people make lead me to question my own grasp on the real world.
Good to read, but there are a few places where you might want to skip ahead without missing anything.
Rating:
Summary: A bizarre insight into the frailties of the human mind.
Review: Sacks has written a riveting and somewhat frightening series of case studies about things that, with a little less knowledge, would certainly fit into the supernatural category: * a man who lost all sense of smell in an accident dreams of being a dog and sniffing flowers, and awakens to find he can smell again;
* an artist slowly loses the ability to distinguish people from objects (the Mr. Magoo syndrome), but his fans think it just makes his artwork better;
* a woman who cannot perceive one side of her body at all, even when presented with a mirror;
* a man whose left and right sides of the brain continually are at war, one hand buttoning him up while the tries to unbutton him.
Sachs provides enough strange-but-true stories to show us just how little we know about the human brain. A must read for anyone who wants the facts behind all those "believe it or not" books and shows.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating case studies of neurobiology
Review: The author risks decending into "Ripley's Believe It or Not" with these
case studies from his own files of the neurologically damaged (and enhanced). His
work is saved by his own compassion and struggles to understand what has happened to
these very sympathetic characters.
Rating:
Summary: More than just psychology.
Review: Oliver Sacks, known best for his famous book _Awakenings_,
is one of the few psychologists who looks beyond the science
and considers the human factor to be more important than the
facts and figures. Writing about such unusual patients as
"Witty ticcy Ray", a man whose Tourette's Syndrome gives him
extraordinary improvisational powers, or a pair of twins who
speak to each other in mathematical riddles, Sacks presents
interesting, often amusing, case studies of people whose
disorders are as thought-provoking as they are frightening.
Rating:
Summary: EVERYTHING by Oliver Sacks is worth reading!
Review: Fascinating inquiry into the workings of the brain and mind.
Well written, easy for the layman to understand.
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