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Oliver Sacks - Musicophilia - Alzheimer's/The Power of Music

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Oliver Sacks

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born

July 09, 1933 in London, The United Kingdom

gender

male

website

http://www.oliversacks.com/

genre

Science, Nonfiction

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Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE (born July 9, 1933, London), is a British neurologist residing in the United States, who has written popular books about his patients, the most famous of which is Awakenings, which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.

Sacks was the youngest of four children born to a prosperous North London Jewish couple: Sam, a physician, and Elsie, a surgeon. When he was six years old, he and his brother were evacuated from London to escape The Blitz, retreating to a boarding school in the Midlands, where he remained until 1943. During his youth, he was a keen amateur chemist, as recalled in his memoir Uncle Tungsten. He also learned to share his parents' enthusiasm for medi...moreOliver Wolf Sacks, CBE (born July 9, 1933, London), is a British neurologist residing in the United States, who has written popular books about his patients, the most famous of which is Awakenings, which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.

Sacks was the youngest of four children born to a prosperous North London Jewish couple: Sam, a physician, and Elsie, a surgeon. When he was six years old, he and his brother were evacuated from London to escape The Blitz, retreating to a boarding school in the Midlands, where he remained until 1943. During his youth, he was a keen amateur chemist, as recalled in his memoir Uncle Tungsten. He also learned to share his parents' enthusiasm for medicine and entered The Queen's College, Oxford University in 1951, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in physiology and biology in 1954. At the same institution, he went on to earn in 1958, a Master of Arts (MA) and an MB ChB in chemistry, thereby qualifying to practice medicine.

After converting his British qualifications to American recognition (i.e., an MD as opposed to MB ChB), Sacks moved to New York, where he has lived since 1965, and taken twice weekly therapy sessions since 1966.

Sacks began consulting at chronic care facility Beth Abraham Hospital (now Beth Abraham Health Service) in 1966. At Beth Abraham, Sacks worked with a group of survivors of the 1920s sleeping sickness, encephalitis lethargica, who had been unable to move on their own for decades. These patients and his treatment of them were the basis of Sacks' book Awakenings.

His work at Beth Abraham helped provide the foundation on which the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), where Sacks is currently an honorary medical advisor, is built. In 2000, IMNF honored Sacks, its founder, with its first Music Has Power Award. The IMNF again bestowed a Music Has Power Award on Sacks in 2006 to commemorate "his 40 years at Beth Abraham and honor his outstanding contributions in support of music therapy and the effect of music on the human brain and mind".

Sacks was formerly employed as a clinical professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at the New York University School of Medicine, serving the latter school for 42 years. On 1 July 2007, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons appointed Sacks to a position as professor of clinical neurology and clinical psychiatry, at the same time opening to him a new position as "artist", which the university hoped will help interconnect disciplines such as medicine, law, and economics. Sacks remains a consultant neurologist to the Little Sisters of the Poor, and maintains a practice in New York City.

Since 1996, Sacks is a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature). In 1999, Sacks became a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences. Also in 1999, he became an Honorary Fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford. In 2002, he became Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Class IV—Humanities and Arts, Section 4—Literature).[38] and he was awarded the 2001 Lewis Thomas Prize by Rockefeller University. Sacks has been awarded honorary doctorates from the College of Staten Island (1991), Tufts University (1991), New York Medical College (1991), Georgetown University (1992), Medical College of Pennsylvania (1992), Bard College (1992), Queen's University (Ontario) (2001), Gallaudet University (2005), University of Oxford (2005), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2006). He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours. Asteroid 84928 Oliversacks, discovered in 2003 and 2 miles (3.2 km) in diameter, has been named in his honor.
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17 posts
Oliver Sacks's Blog

Oliver Sacks isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but he does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from his feed.

Dragons and Doctors

Happy Year of the Dragon! It seems like an auspicious time to announce that Dr. Sacks's next book, HALLUCINATIONS, is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2012. Stay tuned for updates, and a sneak peak or two!

We are excited also to announce the publication of Writer, M.D.: The Best Contemporary Fiction and Nonfiction by Doctors. This collection includes Dr. Sacks's "The Lost Mariner,...

View more on Oliver Sacks's website »

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Published on January 25, 2012 10:26 • 72 views

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Books by Oliver Sacks

Average rating: 3.95 · 38,674 ratings · 3,826 reviews · 24 distinct works

	The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat & Other Clinical Tales 3.98 avg rating — 18,224 ratings — published 1970 — 51 editions	My rating:
	Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain 3.74 avg rating — 6,368 ratings — published 2007 — 27 editions	My rating:
	An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales 4.14 avg rating — 3,680 ratings — published 1995 — 27 editions	My rating:
	Awakenings 3.97 avg rating — 1,917 ratings — published 1973 — 25 editions	My rating:
	The Mind's Eye 3.72 avg rating — 1,312 ratings — published 2010 — 19 editions	My rating:
	Uncle Tungsten 3.81 avg rating — 1,145 ratings — published 2001 — 17 editions	My rating:
	The Island of the Colorblind 3.84 avg rating — 1,080 ratings — published 1997 — 18 editions	My rating:
	Seeing Voices 3.97 avg rating — 805 ratings — published 1989 — 15 editions	My rating:
	A Leg to Stand On 3.81 avg rating — 544 ratings — published 1984 — 12 editions	My rating:
	Migraine 3.66 avg rating — 353 ratings — published 1970 — 23 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Oliver Sacks

“Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. But for many of my neurological patients, music is even more - it can provide access, even when no medication can, to movement, to speech, to life. For them, music is not a luxury, but a necessity.”
― Oliver Sacks

61 people liked it

“My religion is nature. That’s what arouses those feelings of wonder and mysticism and gratitude in me. ”
― Oliver Sacks

45 people liked it

“Every act of perception, is to some degree an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination.”
― Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: La Musique, Le Cerveau Et Nous

29 people liked it

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