癲狂院 Vixen Owl Cigar..。o○

Case-Studies of the Bizarre & Fascinating


Gr8 Primer on the Power of the Brain..
This is one of my top 30 favorite books of all time (and I'm a huge reader).
It's amazing; the stories are true, but they are so far-out that the book title couldn't be more perfect.
Oliver Sacks's title "An Anthropologist from Mars " suggests detachment(35 million miles) yet he investigates the intimate details of human perception.
It took me nearly 50 pages to remember to see that it is his literary zoom lens that I find so fascinating.
From the 5x of historical perspective to the 500x of a patient's diagnosis he twirls the lens.

Neurological disorders create some of most fascinating situations & persons I've ever read about (including fiction ).
Highly entertaining, educational, funny, & absolutely fascinating.
Obviously I can't suggest this book highly enough.
I have to keep re-buying it because I give it away all the time.
Oliver Sacks has terrific stories to share.
His intelligent, witty & thoughtful writing is a bonus.
Dr. Sacks weaves the tales of seven human beings, each having a different neurological "difference " and portraying them in a matter of fact, logical light.
Instead of viewing each person as having a disability, Dr. Sacks focuses on the remarkable way they have learned to adapt and make the best out of all situations.

What to make of a painter that is colorblind ?
How can a person with Tourette Syndrome possibly be a surgeon ?
Why does an autistic teenager seem unable to verbally communicate appropriately, yet shows signs of immense, almost sacred "feelings" in his drawings ?

All these questions are anwered and mostly with more questions.
However, this book differs than most in that it manages to bring a "soulful spirit " to those of which Dr. Sacks writes.
A spirit that eludes most human beings.

【Oliver W. Sacks】An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales
Underscores the complexity of the human mind
Sacks has, again, succeeded in compiling an anthology of case-studies which dazzle with their ability to entertain and inform.
The lay public & physicians alike will enjoy this collection of extremely diverse patients, each suffering from a (in some cases very rare, in others not uncommon ) neurologic disorder.
As a physician, I've found almost everything Sacks has done extremely interesting, well-written and educational.
As a reader, Sacks' style is crisp, entertaining & compelling.
For a medical writer, he knows how to churn out a page-turner like almost no one else.

You'll find a case about the loss and return of color vision and the devastating neuro-psychological effects that can have; about an autistic child artist with an unbelievable visual memory; about a woman slowly poisoned by materials she works with every day; about a surgeon with Tourette's syndrome.
These are extraordinary tales about exceptional individuals, and Sacks handles them with the appropriate amount of both professionalism and journalism.
He never exploits his subjects, but he lays them bare for stringent analysis; his compassion for his patients always comes through, even when his intention to educate others becomes easily apparent in his conversations with them.
Sacks never makes his work seem like the cataloguing of freaks or oddities.

This is my favorite book by Sacks; "Island of the Colour Blind" is a close second (it was also translated into a fabulous PBS special ) and "The Man who Mistook..." would be third in line.
He is certainly among the finest popular medical writers of our time.
The time Sacks takes to just be with each special person, and appreciate the uniqueness of each, is commendable, and goes way beyond a mere call of duty.
When an autistic person, featured in this book, commended that she feels like "an anthropologist on Mars "..
.. because she has to study human behaviour and interactions to be socially adaptable, Sacks picked up on her standpoint, and recognised, with unusual humility, that as a psychiatrist of special persons, he too is like an anthropologist on Mars , not always understanding their world..
.. but not being too quick to pronounce them stereotypically abnormal and himself normal...a sensitive, insightful work that reflects a sensitive, insightful author.
The power went out in my apt this morning and as I was stumbling about looking for matches I noticed a glowing line on my bookshelf.
I touched it and realized that one of my volumes had a glowing dust jacket ... sure enough the publisher (or maybe Dr. Sacks? ) really wanted us to know that this book **IS** illuminating.
It seems that the front cover has been treated with some kinda florescent material....

Trivia at its BEST..