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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Slight, chatty, and interesting. Like many college students, I read "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat" in intro Psych class, and followed headlines about Sacks over the years. I was so impressed by his life fully lived - he nearly died about 100 times by his motorcycle, the sea, hiking, weight lifting, and drugs. His voracious reading and writing inspires me, and encourages me to write more - letters, scribbles, post-it notes. He died loved and admired, having made an imprint on this world.
This is the second or third Oliver Sacks book I've done on audio, and I don't really understand why it's always an American guy narrating it.
At any rate, this guy was amazing and I have never not enjoyed one of his books, but I definitely prefer the science to the memoir. I am really sad that there are no more books of his to come.
At any rate, this guy was amazing and I have never not enjoyed one of his books, but I definitely prefer the science to the memoir. I am really sad that there are no more books of his to come.
Dr Sacks lived an absolutely crazy life, spurred on by being in the right place at the right time, a ton of intellectual curiosity, being down for anything, and what seems to be a genuinely good heart. How one life can contain a biker with a record squat weight lift, to a very shy sheltered coming out process and dating life, to the author of 13 (?) books, to meeting and keeping a correspondence with what seems to be every intellectual luminary of his generation is remarkable.
The book's writing did suffer from being a bit of a unconnected list of anecdotes, with the narrative feeling a bit stilted. That said, it is still certain that this life was a remarkable one.
The book's writing did suffer from being a bit of a unconnected list of anecdotes, with the narrative feeling a bit stilted. That said, it is still certain that this life was a remarkable one.
4.5. A wonderful, addicting, often hilarious, and eclectic memoir of Dr Sacks and his many musings on life, medicine, science, and writing. What an utter treasure of a man.
His autobiography just isn't nearly as interesting as his other books.
Loved reading about Dr. Sacks' life, what a full and interesting life he led! From leaving England for the states, to being a record-holding weight lifter to his various scientific pursuits - it's all good reading.
reflective
slow-paced
I started this back in 2nd year undergrad only to put it down after discovering he got into Oxford and residing myself to a nihilistic inferiority…
But I completely overlooked that it took several tries to get into Oxford and that it is a humble book of mistakes and self-inflicted pain. Now in my 2nd year PhD, I’m selfishly relieved to recognise the career failures and tension of academic egos. Lost marks for the rambling vignettes (ironically what got him published) of the many cultured people he knew.
But I completely overlooked that it took several tries to get into Oxford and that it is a humble book of mistakes and self-inflicted pain. Now in my 2nd year PhD, I’m selfishly relieved to recognise the career failures and tension of academic egos. Lost marks for the rambling vignettes (ironically what got him published) of the many cultured people he knew.
3.5. Hard to rate memoirs, since they are someone's life, after all. I think I enjoyed the more personal parts than the scientific parts, oddly, considering the author.
3.5 stars. Sacks obviously led an interesting life. By his own admission, Sacks tended to over-write his stories (and often had close friends and strong editors to talk him out of it). This autobiography was no different. Though it's about 100 pages too long, I was still pleased to read about his life and experiences.