false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166606317m/14456.jpg 14456 25 It hardly seems fair that so many great doctors are also great writers. Perhaps it's qualities like sensitivity, craft, and dedication that keep physicians like Oliver Sacks in hospitals all day and at writing desks all night; if nothing else, these qualities shine in books like <I>Awakenings</I>. This powerful set of case histories rises above its pathological foundation to find new literary territory, a medical-spiritual synthesis equally stimulating for the mind and the soul. It's no wonder Hollywood producers chose to turn it into a feature film--anyone can see the universal human struggle against bondage and despair in these pages.<p> The sleeping-sickness epidemic of 1918 caused hundreds of survivors to slip into a bizarre rigid paralysis with similarities to advanced Parkinson's disease. These patients, only occasionally able to communicate or move, were nearly all institutionalized for life, their ranks increasing every now and then with similarly afflicted men and women. Sacks came to work at a long-term care facility shortly before the first exciting results with L-dopa and Parkinson's in the late 1960s; his patients soon embarked on dramatic, difficult recoveries from up to 50 years of torpor. He documents their spiritual and medical obstacles with great care to portray their individual personalities, long suppressed but finally released. Though many great doctors are also great writers, few can compare with Oliver Sacks for expressing the relation of medicine to the human spirit. <I>--Rob Lightner</I> 2755549 1973 Awakenings total:853|5:238|4:365|3:206|2:41|1:3| 853 3353 1353 50 5 1 false false Fri Jul 25 11:51:26 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 12:12:10 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 02:47:47 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 17:44:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Nov 13 16:45:57 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 13 20:07:09 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jul 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 01:48:39 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 04:15:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 31 11:41:58 -0800 2007 Fri Jan 02 08:09:22 -0800 2009
A third of those affected died in the acute stages of the sleeping-sickness, in states of coma so deep as to preclude arousal, or in states of sleeplessness so intense as to preclude sedation...One thing, and one alone was (usually) spared amid the ravages of this otherw...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jun 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon May 12 19:13:04 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 06 12:31:22 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 10 07:15:45 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 10:22:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Feb 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 04 06:48:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 04 06:48:00 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Thu Sep 03 18:07:05 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 03 18:09:03 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 03 07:18:56 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 09:55:49 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Mar 13 10:24:20 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 13 10:25:28 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Sep 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 03 08:36:20 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 26 08:08:30 -0700 2009 3 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun May 10 21:45:26 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 21:46:54 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Mar 20 14:22:01 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 14:23:07 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Jul 15 16:45:01 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 16:45:33 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Mar 22 15:40:45 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 22 15:40:45 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jun 24 00:25:47 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 00:26:24 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Feb 22 13:09:44 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 13:10:11 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1993 Wed Apr 01 08:17:21 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 01 08:18:31 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Feb 09 16:32:52 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 16:33:08 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=14456