Awakenings--which inspired the major motion picture--is the remarkable story of a group of patients who contracted sleeping-sickness during ...
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Jul 25, 2008
Charlie
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This is the astonishing true story of a group of people aflicted with a severe 'sleeping' sickness who were awakened for a while by a drug called L Dopa. It is full of personal moments of extreem grief and happiness and wonder. It is a story of clinical experimentation and individual care and understanding.
A very good film of it has also been made with Robin Williams as Oliver Sacks. I think, as usual, the book is better than the film, but the film gives a good feel for the story l More...
A very good film of it has also been made with Robin Williams as Oliver Sacks. I think, as usual, the book is better than the film, but the film gives a good feel for the story l More...
Oct 02, 2011
Simon
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More engrossing than the fact that Dr. Oliver Sacks' 'extinct volcanoes' (post-encephalitic patients) 'awoke' after having received L-Dopa are the reports of how these patients coped with their individual "eruptions." Despite having their 'higher faculties' (intelligence, judgment, humor) undisturbed by their crippling illnesses, most patients emerged gloriously from years of 'Sleeping Sickness' only to relapse - forcing either a troublesome accommodation to 'side effects' or a complet
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Sep 15, 2010
Kenneth
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Oliver Sacks' book about a group of mental patients who undergo an experiment goes through a wide variety of emotions, all of which contribute feeling and power to one of the greatest stories I've ever had the pleasure of reading. What we're provided is a tale that begins with mild interest, shortly becomes heart-warming and, before long, entrancing before the last chapters conclude a read that's just too great to spoil. This is one of those few books that honestly made me look at life and the
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May 13, 2009
Jack
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Starts out with a long and interesting forward. This is the famous story of the sleeping sickness patients (suffering from severe Parkinsonian symptoms)helped by the drug L-dopa, given by Dr. Sacks to patients at Mt. Carmel Hospital in New York City, beginning in 1969. Although this book is fairly dense with neurological and philosophical vocabulary, Mr. Sacks' human warmth and scientific passion comes through loud and clear. For those of us that are not neurologists, though, the movie (with R.
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Apr 05, 2011
Mary
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I really liked this book. The language was a little too technical for me, but I liked telling my family about the amazing transformations of the patients.
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Mar 15, 2010
Conor
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I found this books to be kind of terrifying, mostly because I've seen relatives after strokes who had something like the kind of loss of self control and self knowledge that some of the patients in this book have.
Beyond that, I would have given this book four stars, but I found Sack's "Perspectives" part to be a bit over the top. Such a terrible amount of name dropping is distracting to the reader. Especially odd was the Shakespeare referencing and the long line of Germans More...
Beyond that, I would have given this book four stars, but I found Sack's "Perspectives" part to be a bit over the top. Such a terrible amount of name dropping is distracting to the reader. Especially odd was the Shakespeare referencing and the long line of Germans More...
Nov 13, 2009
Melissa
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I have really enjoyed Sacks' other books because they address neuroscience and behavior in a way that is still accessible and sometimes amusing. I expected the same from Awakenings but I was disappointed by the tedious and dense, medical jargon filled language. The case studies were interesting but laced with footnotes that often digressed into rather philosophical page-long quandaries and lots of italicized phrases that did nothing to clarify the meaning for me. I know it is heresy to say so on
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Oct 03, 2011
Agatha
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Starts out with a very long prologue and introduction, full of medical jargon. The middle part of the book introduces several case studies of patients inflicted with the "sleeping sickness". Some of these patients' stories are interesting, but gets tiresome as the results are generally the same: the patient is paralyzed with the sleeping sickness, patient is given L-Dopa and "awakens", patient experiences side effects so awful that L-Dopa is discontinued, patient goes back to
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Jul 19, 2009
Deb
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i remember reading this years ago but i don't remember it making me SOOO angry....i know L-Dopa helped a lot of people but it seems to me that in those early days the doasge was established almost randomly and people suffered unnecessarily...and as for oliver sacks' attitude towards some of the cases he treated - it was so callous!! and he seems surprised when people felt better when they had had a glorious day outside...who wouldn't feel crap stuck in an institution for 20 years or more...grrr
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Jan 02, 2009
Abbi
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Favorite tidbits:
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 otherwise engulfing disease: the “higher faculties” – intelligence, imagination, judgment, and humor.
As sickness is the greatest misery, so the greatest misery of sickness is solitude...solitude More...
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 otherwise engulfing disease: the “higher faculties” – intelligence, imagination, judgment, and humor.
As sickness is the greatest misery, so the greatest misery of sickness is solitude...solitude More...
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Jun 06, 2008
Tanya
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After having read another Oliver Sacks book, I picked this up just because I enjoyed the 1990 movie with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. This turned out to be an amazing story. The book is about Dr. Sacks's actual experiences with a new drug and several dozen patients suffering from post-encephelatic lethargica, a form of Parkinsons. Unlike Dr. Sayer in the movie, Dr. Sacks encountered a wide variety of responses to the drug, L-dopa. In fact, every patient's response was unique although most
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Nov 01, 2011
Jana
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So I am a psych nurse and I really enjoyed this book. However, it is written in the medical vocabulary of a physician and reads like medical notes. I am not sure if non-medical folks would enjoy it as much as I did. I suggested to my daughter that she skip to the case studies... the dr. reviews the course of care for each patient from beginning to end... but very little interaction of the whole unit is shown as in the movie.
May 07, 2009
Steph
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Way, way better than the movie (although I must admit DeNiro does an absolutely fantastic job). The number of footnotes can be difficult to get through, but if you really want a great understanding of the "sleeping-sickness" that masks itself as Parkisonism, please read this book. Sacks is a great writer, although his prose can sometimes be overly medical (*hint: it would be a good idea to have some background knowledge of the brain and/or parkison's disease symptoms). The beauty of hi
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May 26, 2010
Comments before reading: I have been putting this book off for some reason. It seems like it would be interesting. I enjoy the cases of odd psychological disorders so this book should be right up my alley. I started reading this book last week a little. It's like a textbook case so I wonder if the Dr wrote the book from his case study. I have a feeling it will take me a little bit to read this book as I'll have to reference some of the information.
I have to put this book away fo More...
I have to put this book away fo More...
Feb 04, 2009
K
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The first 1/2 of the book was very interesting (the case histories), but he lost me when he started going into the medical and metephisical details. To me, that's where it lost its human aspect, and I didn't even want to read the "updates". Very disappointing for me, since there are very very few books I don't insist on finishing.
Sep 14, 2010
I have stared at this book in bookshops for so many years now. It's really fantastic, and despite some of the medical language an easy read. The portrayal of each patient gives you an insight into their daily struggle to retain their identity as a human being and also makes you really grateful to be in good health!
Nov 18, 2010
Alexis
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How I love Oliver Sacks! I must say that though the subject matter was extremely interesting, post-encephalitic Parkinsonism, the case reports got mildly tedious. Definitely worth a read though, if one is at all interested in neurologic disorders--or has seen the movie of the same title:)
Jul 19, 2011
Lisa
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An excellent account of the use of L-dopa on encephalitic patients in the 1960s. Descriptions of individual patients take up most of the book, but philosophical and ethical musings from Oliver Sacks compliment the stories well.
At times I felt it dragged on, but overall enjoyable.
At times I felt it dragged on, but overall enjoyable.
Jan 12, 2010
Sarah
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Interesting read; Dr. Sacks appears to be a strong believer in the human part of the medical equation. He consistently noted the impact on patients of interpersonal relationships and interaction with the outside world.
The book made me a little scared of developing Parkinson's, though.
The book made me a little scared of developing Parkinson's, though.
Jan 17, 2010
Bobbi
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The true story of how a group of patients in a mental hospital who had contracted sleeping sickness, were temporarily brought back to life by the administration of L-Dopa in 1969. Interesting but a bit dry. The movie was not as accurate, but more fascinating.
Sep 03, 2009
Mary-Jane
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An amazing true story by an admirable neurologist. The author presents the personalities and individuality of the many patients who experienced "awakenings" with particular medications after having previously experienced an illness leading to catatonia. Fascinating.
Aug 22, 2008
Susan
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This is clearly Sacks' piece de resistence, and you can tell because it's been through a half-dozen editions, all of which bear significant revisions and new footnotes. And there's a reason. I was deeply affected by the case studies in this book, and you can see Sacks' wonder show through on the pages.
On the down side, it contains too many footnotes, many of which are random tangents to the subject. I ended up skipping about 1/3 of them to keep the cohesion of the narrative.
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On the down side, it contains too many footnotes, many of which are random tangents to the subject. I ended up skipping about 1/3 of them to keep the cohesion of the narrative.
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Jan 24, 2010
Suzanne
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So, one of the patients who was "frozen" in a wheelchair, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings and immobilized, suddenly leapt from his chair into the ocean to save a drowning man. After that, he went back to his "frozen" state.
This is strange stuff.
This is strange stuff.
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Mar 13, 2009
Sharyn
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You will cry. A fascinating look at a young doctor's attempts to identify and understand and treat a mysterious malady. Would that every doctor were as compassionate and sweet as Oliver Sacks! I just love that man.
Jun 20, 2010
Christopher
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The patient cases are engrossing, tragic, and inspiring. The philosophilizing by Sacks is interesting at times but overdone, showy, and flowery and could be cut in half with no loss.
Jul 30, 2011
So well written and interesting. Feeding my hypochondria and inspiring descriptive language and interest in dreaded medical reports. I really hope I don't have Parkinson's.
May 10, 2009
Juliet
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I had to read this for a class a few years ago. For a medical/ non-fiction it is a good read. You can really get in to it. I have yet to see the movie.
Jan 24, 2011
Sarah
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i actually ready 1/2 of this book at Borders in an hour or so. i will probably finish it next time i'm trying to kill some time...
Jan 02, 2012
Wendy
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This book was exceedingly disturbing, but I do think that it cleared up the mystery of my grandfather-in-law's supposed MS.
Mar 20, 2009
Colleen
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an unimaginable experience, like being in a time machine for the patients involved and bot touching and heart-rending
