Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Oliver Sacks led an amazing life. Unfortunately by his own admission he gets "waylaid by tangential thoughts and associations in mid-sentence, and this leads to parentheses, subordinate clauses, sentences of paragraphic length." This led to a non-linear rambling through this personal and professional life. While each chapter started off with a central theme it quickly introduced asides that made it hard to follow. Specific vignettes and common topics he turns to throughout the book made for entertaining reading. In particular I learned so much more about the man beyond the portrayal in Awakenings.
I'm not sure which I'm giving the high rating: the book or Sack's life itself. What a life. Wandering about the world, through nature and through cities, finding out about people and the brain, and drugs (for health and for fun) and always after a good but switched-on time. I've never resonated so much with someone's story.
Admittedly, the actual book is a bit disorganised. It speeds up towards the end and really changes tone from almost month-to-month descriptions of his early wanderings to year-skipping accounts of people and science toward the end. But I didn't mind that - perhaps it reflects his changing self. However I would have liked to find out more about what was going on his own mind, e.g. about homosexuality, his long-standing celibacy and decades of psychotherapy, but on the other hand he's already shared an awful lot, and I'm grateful.
Admittedly, the actual book is a bit disorganised. It speeds up towards the end and really changes tone from almost month-to-month descriptions of his early wanderings to year-skipping accounts of people and science toward the end. But I didn't mind that - perhaps it reflects his changing self. However I would have liked to find out more about what was going on his own mind, e.g. about homosexuality, his long-standing celibacy and decades of psychotherapy, but on the other hand he's already shared an awful lot, and I'm grateful.
Like all of Sacks’ books, this is superlative, clean English, without excessive adornment or complexity, but with a delicate combination of passion and distance. Perhaps it is the gift of the physician and diagnostician, or is it the distance of a shy and lonely man who, for much of his life, finds human contact in his patients? I am reminded again of the value of writing for writing’s sake, something my son understands better than I. Sacks’ commitment to the writing process is a constant reminder that we sometimes form and find ourselves in the text we compose, whatever the audience.
I’m thrilled that there is such a wonderful book that shows the complexities of being a whole human and a doctor. I’m so inspired by Dr. Sacks ability to pinpoint and discuss individual cases and the importance he saw in letting patients have a voice. He continues to make a great impact on the practice of medicine and storytelling within this field.
It is one of those books where, if I wasn't writing already, I would start because of this book.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
The world is a bit dimmer with the loss earlier this year of Dr. Sacks. I have been a fan of him and his writing for many years and had the fortune to listen to him speak at my university about ten years ago.
This second (or third?) autobiography was engrossing to read and very satisfactory. I am happy that he finally found love in his later years.
He hinted in this book that another book on his patients and his reflections of them might be forthcoming and I hope it is. I'm not ready to let his voice rest just yet.
This second (or third?) autobiography was engrossing to read and very satisfactory. I am happy that he finally found love in his later years.
He hinted in this book that another book on his patients and his reflections of them might be forthcoming and I hope it is. I'm not ready to let his voice rest just yet.
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Like sitting down again and again with a dear old friend who is brilliant and flawed and wise and loving. Sacks's stories of a particular time and place are evocative and endlessly interesting. (Who knew the North Circular didn't have a speed limit once upon a time?!) His insights into topics as diverse as neurobiology, individuality and evolutionary were game-changing even to a layperson like me. Even to a relative novice at life like myself, his thoughts on love, connection, home and pain were inspiring. If I had some sort of religion of heart and intellect, Oliver Sacks would be through to the final round of canonisation. In the meantime, my Oliver Sacks reading list has grown very long.
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced