Alzheimer's Archives - Oliver Sacks | Official Website of Author, Neurologist & Foundation

The Mind’s Eye

Greg Fearon — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 13:39:55 +0000

“Extraordinary. . . . An elegant mixture of case history and street-level observations of the struggles of those afflicted with visual disorders.”

— San Francisco Chronicle

The Mind’s Eye

“The effects of a profound perceptual deprivation such as blindness may cast an unexpected light on these questions. Going blind, especially later in life, presents one with a huge, potentially overwhelming challenge: to find a new way of living, of ordering one’s world, when the old has been destroyed.” —Oliver Sacks

In The Mind’s Eye, Oliver Sacks tells the stories of people who are able to navigate the world and communicate with others despite losing what many of us consider indispensable senses and abilities: the power of speech, the capacity to recognize faces, the sense of three-dimensional space, the ability to read, the sense of sight. For all of these people, the challenge is to adapt to a radically new way of being in the world.

There is Lilian, a concert pianist who becomes unable to read music and eventually even to recognize everyday objects; and Sue, a neurobiologist who has never seen in three dimensions, until she suddenly acquires stereoscopic vision in her fifties.

There is Pat, who reinvents herself as a loving grandmother and well-loved member of her community, although she has aphasia and cannot utter a sentence; and Howard, a prolific novelist who must find a way to continue his life as a writer even after a stroke destroys his ability to read.

And there is Dr. Sacks himself, who tells the story of his own eye cancer and the bizarre and disconcerting effects of losing vision to one side.

Sacks explores here some very strange paradoxes–people who can see perfectly well but not recognize their own children, blind people who become hyper-visual, or who navigate by “tongue vision.” Along the way, he considers more fundamental questions: How do we see? How do we think? How important is internal imagery—or vision, for that matter? Why is it that, although writing is only 5000 years old, humans have a universal, seemingly innate, potential for reading?

The Mind’s Eye is a testament to the complexity of vision and the brain and to the power of creativity and adaptation. And it provides a whole new perspective on the power of language and communication, as we try to imagine what it is to see with another person’s eyes, or another person’s mind.

The ever-curious Oliver Sacks involved in one of his usual activities—investigation. Photo by Bill Hayes

Praise for The Mind’s Eye

“Is there anyone who’s done more to elucidate the ability in disability than Oliver Sacks?. . . . In Sacks’ world, even with great loss there are fascinating compensations.” —People

“Another masterpiece of phenomenological description by our most gifted and humane chronicler of neurological disorders. . . . Sacks effortlessly blends his teaching of neurology with the most sensitive descriptions of the ways in which our individual brains yield the most extraordinary variety of human experience.” —New Scientist

“Frank and moving. . . . His books resonate because they reveal as much about the force of character as they do about neurology.” —Nature

“Rich with the sort of observation and insight that makes Sacks’s writing satisfying. . . . Sacks shows us knowledge, discipline, and imagination confronting the terrors of illness and loss. . . . Readers may never take the view of a sunrise or of their child’s smile the same way again.” —Boston Globe

“Elaborate and gorgeously detailed. . . . Again and again, Sacks invites readers to imagine their way into minds unlike their own, encouraging a radical form of empathy.” —Los Angeles Times

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The Island of the Colorblind

Robert C. Bowman III — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 21:43:30 +0000

“Sack’s total immersion in island life makes this luminous, beautifully written report a wondrous voyage of discovery.”

— The New York Times Book Review

The Island Of The Colorblind

“Here, as in Seeing Voices, I was concerned not only with individuals, but with whole populations; thus, I felt as much an anthropologist as a doctor when seeing the impact on the chammoros of a terrible neurodegenerative disease in Guam, and of a hereditory total color-blindness in the tiny coral atol of Pingelap. But these two little books often broke away from the purely medical, and became journals of travel and enchantment in the tropical islands.” —Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks has always been fascinated by islands–their remoteness, their mystery, above all the unique forms of life they harbor. For him, islands conjure up equally the romance of Melville and Stevenson, the adventure of Magellan and Cook, and the scientific wonder of Darwin and Wallace.

Drawn to the tiny Pacific atoll of Pingelap by intriguing reports of an isolated community of islanders born totally colorblind, Dr. Sacks finds himself setting up a clinic in a one-room island dispensary, where he listens to these achromatopic islanders describe their colorless world in rich terms of pattern and tone, luminance and shadow. And on Guam, where he goes to investigate the puzzling neurodegenerative paralysis endemic there for a century, he becomes, for a brief time, an island neurologist, making house calls with his colleague John Steele, amid crowing cockerels, cycad jungles, and the remains of a colonial culture.

The islands reawaken Sacks’ lifelong passion for botany–in particular, for the primitive cycad trees, whose existence dates back to the Paleozoic–and the cycads are the starting point for an intensely personal reflection on the meaning of islands, the dissemination of species, the genesis of disease, and the nature of deep geologic time. Out of an unexpected journey, Sacks has woven an unforgettable narrative which immerses us in the romance of island life, and shares his own compelling vision of the complexities of being human.

Photo by Sanne De Wilde, Noor. The Belgian photographer's 'Island of the Colorblind' exhibition documented the achromats of Pingelap and the neighboring island of Pohnpei.

Praise for Island of the Colorblind

“A book of beguiling beauty.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

“An explorer of that most wonderous of islands, the human brain… Oliver Sacks also loves the oceanic kind of islands… Both kinds figure movingly in this book–part travelogue, part autobiography, part medical mystery story–in which Sacks’s journeys to a tiny Pacific atoll and the island of Guam become explorations of the time, and the complexities of being human.” —D.M. Thomas, The New York Times Book Review

“As a travel writer, Sacks ranks with Paul Theroux and Bruce Chatwin. As an investigator of the mind’s mysteries, he is in a class by himself.” —Publishers Weekly

“Dr. Sacks conjures up his subjects’ lives with enormous compassion and insight, writing simultanteously as a doctor and metaphysician, scientist and father confessor.” —The New Yorker

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Everything In Its Place: First Loves and Last Tales

Robert C. Bowman III — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 10:50:59 +0000

“Life bursts through all of Oliver Sacks’s writing. He was and will remain a brilliant singularity. It’s hard to call to mind one dull passage in his work — one dull sentence, for that matter.”

— The New York Times

Everything In Its Place

First Loves and Last Tales

“In forty years of medical practice, I have found only two types of non-pharmaceutical ‘therapy’ to be vitally important for patients with chronic neurological diseases: music and gardens.” — Oliver Sacks

A final volume of essays that showcase Oliver Sacks’s broad range of interests — from his passion for ferns, swimming, and horsetails, to his final case histories exploring schizophrenia, dementia, and Alzheimer’s.

Oliver Sacks, renowned scientist and storyteller, is adored by readers for his neurological case histories, his fascination and familiarity with human behaviour at its most unexpected and unfamiliar. Published posthumously in 2019, Everything in Its Place is a celebration of Sacks’s myriad interests, all told with his characteristic compassion, erudition, and luminous prose.

From the celebrated case history of Spalding Gray that appeared in The New Yorker four months before his death to reflections on mental asylums; from piercing accounts of Schizophrenia to a reminiscence of Robin Williams; from the riveting tale of a medical colleague falling victim to Alzheimer’s to the healing power of gardens, and, from; a critique of social media to the threat of climate change, this volume celebrates and reflects the wondrous curiosity of Oliver Sacks.

“I had stopped about halfway around to look at a charming gazebo by the water’s edge, got out and strolled up the street, saw a little red house for sale, was shown round it (still dripping) by the puzzled owners, walked along to the real estate agent and convinced her of my interest (she was not used to customers in swim trunks), reentered the water on the other side of the island, and swam back to Orchard Beach, having acquired a house in midswim.” — Oliver Sacks, Everything In Its Place

Oliver Sacks at Oxford’s Botanic Garden, circa 1952. Photo by David Drazin

Photo by Bill Hayes

Praise for Everything In Its Place

“Extraordinarily touching—not lacking in his habitual energy and driven curiosity, but somehow vulnerable, even fragile . . . Our best chance for the future, we may feel, is that there may be others among us like this uncommon, passionate, and enlightened man . . .”—Simon Callow, The New York Review of Books

“In this lovely collection of previously unpublished essays, the late, celebrated author and neurologist muses on his career, his youth, the mental health field and much more. . . [this] final collection is a treat for the chronically curious.”—Publisher’s Weekly

“Eclectic and satisfying . . . Informative and engaging . . . Sacks writes with his characteristic compassion and attention to detail. . . This final posthumous collection provides one last peek into the author’s generous, curious, and brilliant mind.”—Library Journal

“Sacks further secures his legacy with this most recent collection of his work . . . The Shakespeare of science writing might suffice, but Sacks ultimately defies comparison to bygone or even contemporary authors. As readers we can rejoice that, while cancer may have claimed his body, his voice continues to ring out.”—The Scientist

“Everything in Its Place is a wondrous read in its entirety, irradiating Sacks’s kaleidoscopic curiosity across subjects. . .”—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

“Magical . . . [Everything in Its Place] showcases the neurologist’s infinitely curious mind.”—People Magazine

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Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Greg Fearon — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 09:49:42 +0000

“Musicophilia is a Chopin mazurka recital of a book, fast, inventive and weirdly beautiful.”

— The American Scholar

Musicophilia

Tales of Music and the Brain

“Anatomists today would be hard put to identify the brain of a visual artist, a writer or a mathematician – but they would recognize the brain of a professional musician without moment’s hesitation.” — Oliver Sacks

Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does–humans are a musical species.

Oliver Sacks’s compassionate, compelling tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we think of our own brains, and of the human experience. In Musicophilia, he examines the power of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians, and everyday people–from a man who is struck by lightning and suddenly inspired to become a pianist at the age of forty-two, to an entire group of children with Williams syndrome who are hypermusical from birth; from people with “amusia,” to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans, to a man whose memory spans only seven seconds–for everything but music.

Our exquisite sensitivity to music can sometimes go wrong: Sacks explores how catchy tunes can subject us to hours of mental replay, and how a surprising number of people acquire nonstop musical hallucinations that assault them night and day. Yet far more frequently, music goes right: Sacks describes how music can animate people with Parkinson’s disease who cannot otherwise move, give words to stroke patients who cannot otherwise speak, and calm and organize people whose memories are ravaged by Alzheimer’s or amnesia.

Music is irresistible, haunting, and unforgettable, and in Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks tells us why.

Oliver Sacks studying Bach. Photo by Bill Hayes

When Musicophilia was published, Wired Magazine asked Oliver Sacks for a list of his favorite recordings. Add some musical accompaniment to your reading of the book with this special playlist, recreated to include music by some of his favorite composers.

Praise for Musicophilia

“Dr. Sacks writes not just as a doctor and a scientist but also as a humanist with a philosophical and literary bent. . . [his] book not only contributes to our understanding of the elusive magic of music but also illuminates the strange workings, and misfirings, of the human mind.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Oliver Sacks turns his formidable attention to music and the brain . . . He doesn’t stint on the science . . . but the underlying authority of Musicophilia lies in the warmth and easy command of the author’s voice.” —Mark Coleman, Los Angeles Times

“His work is luminous, original, and indispensable . . . Musicophilia is a Chopin mazurka recital of a book, fast, inventive and weirdly beautiful . . . Yet what is most awe-inspiring is his observational empathy.” —The American Scholar

“[Sacks] weaves neuroscience through a fascinating personal story, allowing us to think about brain functions and music in a bracing new light . . . Human context is what makes good journalism, medical and otherwise. That’s the art of Sacks’ best essays.” —Kevin Berger, Salon

“[Sacks’s] lifelong love for music infuses the writing . . . Musicophilia shows music can be more powerful (even dangerous) than most of us realize, and that defining it may be crucial to defining who we are.” —Andrew Druckenbrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Sacks is adept at turning neurological narratives into humanly affecting stories, by showing how precariously our worlds are poised on a little biochemistry.” —Anthony Gottlieb, The New York Times Book Review

Feedback from Social Media Followers

“This was the book that introduced me to Dr. Sacks. I saw him talking about it on the Daily Show and I was so moved by his compassion for the people he writes about. Now I’ve read them all!”

“This book inspired me to embark on a professional career in music therapy.”

Follow along on social media and engage with Oliver Sacks fans around the world!

Inspired by Musicophilia

Musical Minds is a one-hour NOVA documentary on music therapy, produced by Ryan Murdock. Originally broadcast June, 23 2009 on PBS stations. Based on the 2008 BBC documentary by Alan Yentob and Louise Lockwood. This version has additional footage, including fMRI images of Dr. Sacks’s brain as he listens to music.

Icelandic singer Bjork’s album Biophilia, a multimedia project combining music, nature, and technology was inspired in part by Oliver Sacks’s book Musicophilia.

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