An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales

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An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales

by Oliver Sacks

4.14 · rating details · 3,618 ratings · 316 reviews

The works of neurologist Oliver Sacks have a special place in the swarm of mind-brain studies. He has done as much as anyone to make nonspecialists aware of how much diversity gets lumped under the heading of "the human mind."

The stories in An Anthropologist on Mars are medical case reports not unlike the classic tales of Berton Roueché in The Medical Detective

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Paperback, 327 pages

Published February 13th 1996 by Vintage (first published January 1st 1995)

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Apr 11, 2009

Manny rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science

This book contains an extended, very sympathetic case-study of Temple Grandin, the world's most famous autistic person. I read it when my older son, Jonathan, was diagnosed autistic at age about 10. Obviously, given that it took so long to figure out why he was odd, he isn't that much like Grandin, but the book did give me some important insights.

If you're autistic, your fundamental problem is that you don't naturally understand how other people think and feel. Many women summarize ...moreThis book contains an extended, very sympathetic case-study of Temple Grandin, the world's most famous autistic person. I read it when my older son, Jonathan, was diagnosed autistic at age about 10. Obviously, given that it took so long to figure out why he was odd, he isn't that much like Grandin, but the book did give me some important insights.

If you're autistic, your fundamental problem is that you don't naturally understand how other people think and feel. Many women summarize this as "you're like a man, but more so". If you're strongly autistic, you have so little ability to relate to other people that you don't even pick up language skills. People who are mildly autistic learn to speak, but they almost always talk in a more or less unusual way. Their prosody is odd (they speak with flat or unnatural intonation), and they haven't picked up all of the subtle rules that govern correct use of language. As a linguist, I can pinpoint some of the things Jonathan does. For instance, he forms certain WH-questions that aren't permitted in standard English. He'll say, of someone he likes, "What do you think I'm doing to Sarah?", to which the intended answer is "I'm missing her". Try explaining just why this is wrong! More seriously, he has trouble understanding why things are not permitted by the rules of social interaction, which can get him into trouble.

What's fascinating about Temple Grandin is that she's shown how an autistic person can to a large extent overcome their problems, consciously learning behaviors which most people acquire without ever even knowing they are doing it. She's become a well-known advocate for autistic people, and argues convincingly that they often have compensating skills which "normal" people lack. I agree with her; I know a lot of mathematicians, and, once you are familiar with the literature on autism, it's obvious that it's not uncommon in the world of mathematics. You see that the ability to shut out the world and focus intensely on an abstract problem can be a huge strength.

Jonathan, who's now 23, has an incredibly retentive memory. He can give you minute descriptions of things that happened to him when he was three or four years old. But he hasn't figured out how to get his act together and use his abilities systematically, and it's not clear he ever will.

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May 16, 2007

cathy rated it

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Recommends it for: Everyone, especially those who want to learn how to write a case study.

Shelves: non-fiction-read

In An Anthropologist on Mars, Oliver Sacks seamlessly weaves fascinating patient stories and lessons in neurology for the layperson. This may sound quite dry if you're not into reading about bizarre behavior from brain circuitry goes awry, but Sacks makes the science very palatable. He acts as our well-traveled tour guide as we explore the everyday lives and thinking processes of seven people who have made creative use of their cognitive hiccups.

Some of the patients featured in this ...moreIn An Anthropologist on Mars, Oliver Sacks seamlessly weaves fascinating patient stories and lessons in neurology for the layperson. This may sound quite dry if you're not into reading about bizarre behavior from brain circuitry goes awry, but Sacks makes the science very palatable. He acts as our well-traveled tour guide as we explore the everyday lives and thinking processes of seven people who have made creative use of their cognitive hiccups.

Some of the patients featured in this collection of case studies have managed neurological differences from birth; others have had to re-program and mourn grave deficits due to freak events. Dr. Sacks explains the malleability and compensatory functions built into the brain when one portion becomes dim. Perhaps more importantly, he demonstrates via his subjects how the human spirit also adapts after sensory loss. His tale of a painter who was made colorblind after a car accident is an example of the latter: Sacks works through myriad possible explanations for this man’s newly colorless world; however, he is eventually left without a reason—or a cure. During this process, the artist manages to reform his creative identity; he comes to see his newly gray vision as "pure" and not “distracted by color”, so previously unseen forms begin to shape his noirish, multi-shadowed work.

I read this book about 4 years ago and the story that has stayed with me is that of a surgeon with uncontrollable Tourette's. This man is unable to stop his violent tics and outbursts even for a few moments, but he is allowed a mysteriously zen-like reprieve when his hands (and quite possibly his mind) are steadied as he performs surgery. The story illustrates for me what I think is Sacks' message: People are not their pathologies, and talents and interests should always be encouraged, even in the face of what we sometimes misdiagnose as deficits.

Neurology for Sacks is a vocation, not a career. He conducts his research and writing in a truly humanistic spirit, and what I most love about both is the compassion and respect he shows his patients; they are not treated as curious oddities or guinea pigs, as is the case in so many medical and psychological case studies. Throughout all his work Sacks maintains a sense of wonder about the people he treats. He demonstrates that people who seem detached from experience can have full lives, and in some cases, an inner life that is cognitively richer than that of "normal" folks ( i.e. those of us unhindered by neurological or physical challenges).

The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat is considered essential Sacks, but for reasons stated--especially that surgeon--I much prefer this collection.
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Feb 12, 2011

Paul rated it

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Recommends it for: voyeurs

Shelves: misc

Confession time ! I must admit - friends, judge not lest ye be judged - that I boohooed my way through the last part of Awakenings The Movie, with all those frozen people coming back to life and catching tennis balls and (spoiler alerts) then living life to the FULL for one brief shining moment, and doing the hoochy coochy, which is the only dance they could remember from the 1920s which is when they all froze up, and then Mr De Niro doing the herky jerk dance which was one of his own invention,...more

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May 08, 2007

Matt rated it

As someone who thinks a fair amount about memory, consciousness, intelligence, etc, I have developed a minor obsession with Oliver Sacks. "The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat" probably taught me more about the way our brains work than all of the psychology classes I took in school - if for no other reason than the fact that the neurology is always seen through Sacks' humanistic lens. "Anthropologist" is another collection of case studies - much longer than their counterp...more

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Dec 17, 2007

David rated it

Shelves: read-in-2007, anthologies-and-collections

For some reason, the essays of Oliver Sacks don't rock my world. He's got the attention-grabbing title thing down pat, and each case study does have a kernel of interest. But generally, I'd be just as happy if each essay were cut by 50% - most chapters didn't really sustain my interest to the end.

Full disclosure: my faint generalized lack of enthusiasm for Dr S may stem from nothing more than guilt by association with Robin Williams. I have never denied being shallow.

If y...more

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Apr 04, 2008

Cheng rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Everyone.

This is a fascinating book for scientists and non-scientists alike. Dr. Sacks is a very interesting essayist and while he does use medical terms from time to time, he keeps it relatively simple most of the time, even when talking about complex processes of the brain. You will be so amazed at all the things we take for granted because our brain processes the information before we even realized what we perceive as reality has already been processed by our brains, but the patients in these 7 para...more

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Nov 26, 2011

Cheryl in CC NV rated it

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I've known for many years I wanted to read something by Sacks - now I know I want to read everything by him. His focus is on the case histories, well, actually, on the people. Only by getting to know individuals well and comparing their stories to the literature does he bring together theories and share those ideas with us. He doesn't bang us over the head with an agenda. Nice selected bibliography.

A tidbit: "[W]aking consciousness is dreaming - but dreaming constrained by e...more

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Oct 05, 2011

Derek Davis rated it

· review of another edition

Sacks is engaging and deeply concerned about his subject/patients—autistic, Tourette's and brain-damaged in various ways—treating them all with immense humane consideration. He thinks long, hard and deeply about the problems of brain function and its lapses. He is also encyclopedic in his interests and reading. He seems to have devoured virtually every book ever written, and he brings them into his discussions not with personal pride or showiness, but because he thinks they are relevant and you ...more

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Sep 18, 2011

Cindy rated it

Shelves: favorites, medical

Fascinating reading of seven case histories of people with neurological disorders including Temple Grandin who is autistic and the author of Emergence, Labeled Autistic which I read several years ago and loved.

The case of the colorblind painter and to see and not to see were very interesting to me. People who had long term blindness, upon having sight restored have no visual memories to support a perception of what they are seeing. They cannot understand size or distance. someon...more

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Mar 15, 2011

Qi Zeng rated it

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In the story of the idiot savant artist Stephen Wiltshire, the author wrote this following line:
... the whole visible world flowed through STephen like a river, without making sense, without beining appropriated, without becoming part of him n the least. That though he might retain everthing he saw, in a sense, it was retained as something external, unintegrated, never built on, connected, revised, never influencing or influenced by anthing else ... as in the random-access memory of a comp...more

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Jul 15, 2009

Daniel Solera rated it

Shelves: science, psychology

Oliver Sacks will make you think, and on top of being a great series of remarkable case studies, An Anthropologist on Mars is a fascinatingly profound read.

I had always supposed that a person born blind, upon regaining sight through a modern operation, would represent the ultimate revelatory moment, one that would parallel the release of the prisoners in Plato's "Allegory of the Cave". One of Sacks' case studies is such a person, and without spoiling anything, his situation ...more

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May 02, 2011

Carolyn F. rated it

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Shelves: anthology, non-fiction

Fascinating stories. I'd be a little leery of going to a surgeon with Tourette's Syndrome, with all the chirping and stuff, but once he started cutting he was supposed to be excellent. I cracked up when the surgeon and the author went rowing and with all the involuntary movements of the surgeon, Oliver Sacks just wanted the boat to finally tip over so he could swim to shore. Also the plane trip was funny. The surgeon also flew planes and Mr. Sacks said they were dipping and diving so much he...more

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Jul 19, 2010

Kathrina rated it

Shelves: nyrb-intro-authors, essays-interviews

If this book ended after the first five case studies, I would have given this four stars, but the last two studies really seemed to drag for me. Actually, I really enjoyed reading about Stephen Wiltshire, as well, and I wish Sacks had confined that study to just him. In fact, I highly recommend googling Stephen Wiltshire, and catching a glimpse of him and his work on the documentary tv show Extraordinary People. Sacks is good at describing Wiltshire's extraordinary talent, but not as good at ill...more

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Jun 26, 2007

Brie rated it

· review of another edition

The case studies make the psychological disorders much more interesting and accessible. My favorites were the chapters about the turretic surgeon and the blind man who regains his vision. Reading about his inability to conceive of sight made me think about the likelihood that there are other senses that we might not be able to conceive of. Also I found Temporal Lobe Epilepsy to be so interesting that I bought another book on it.

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Mar 22, 2010

Caitlin Constantine rated it

· review of another edition

The theme of this book can be summed up in one single idea, about the plasticity of the human brain, and the way the deficit of disability can be turned into the benefit of compensation. Isn't that such a cool thought? What seems like a disability may ultimately end up a gift.

That's what this whole book is about. Sacks is a neurologist with a bit of Sherlock Holmes mixed in, and he finds himself drawn to some of the most inexplicable cases, like a painter who goes completely colorb...moreThe theme of this book can be summed up in one single idea, about the plasticity of the human brain, and the way the deficit of disability can be turned into the benefit of compensation. Isn't that such a cool thought? What seems like a disability may ultimately end up a gift.

That's what this whole book is about. Sacks is a neurologist with a bit of Sherlock Holmes mixed in, and he finds himself drawn to some of the most inexplicable cases, like a painter who goes completely colorblind after a concussion, a young boy with autism who also happens to be an extremely gifted visual artist. (I was very compelled by the story of the man, blind since childhood, who gets his sight back and finds himself profoundly disturbed by the experience, although I also loved reading about his time with Temple Grandin.) He is a writer of enormous sensitivity, and you never get the sense that he has dehumanized his subjects. Rather, what makes his writing so remarkable is his tremendous respect for everyone he writes about, even if they sometimes annoy him (as with one man, who obsessively paints his memories of the ruined Sicilian village in which he was born.)

But Sacks isn't content to just stay on the surface, to just write out case histories of these people. He delves into theory and literature on subjects that, well, I can't speak for anyone else, but subjects that I take for granted, things like color, emotion, memory and perspective. Things that enrich our lives tremendously, but are also such an integral part of our existences that it can be impossible to imagine life without them. I suppose it makes sense that a book about brains would be so thought-provoking, not just because, hey, it's about brains, but because our brains are the centers of our existence, the way we perceive everything that is going on within and without.

I came away from this book with a new appreciation, not just for my own mind, but also for the myriad ways in which people grow and develop, and for all of the strange and beautiful gifts such differences bestow upon us.

Recommended for anyone with an interest in....well, actually, recommended for anyone. (less)

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Nov 23, 2008

Alissa rated it

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Shelves: book-group, nonfiction, 2008

I’ve always wanted to read something by Oliver Sacks (the doctor from Awakenings). I also wanted to read about autism or Temple Grandin. One of the “tales” in the book focuses on Temple, another focuses on prodigies and autism. The other five focus on neurological disorders related to vision.

The first tale, “The Case of the Colorblind Painter” is highly technical and if I were the editor for this book, I would not have placed it first as it almost turned me off the book. However, the...more

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Feb 14, 2010

Gwen rated it

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Skimmed this through looking for a bigger deeper point, other than just the anecdotal illustrations of how disease/disabilities create overcompensation resulting in extraordinary abilities. The boko is about the brain really. Particularly interesting was the oft-seen phenomena of the negative effects of restoring or correcting blindness in those who've not been able-eyed for long a time, if ever. The brain compensates for the lost sense (visual) with more developed tactile, auditory, and othe...more

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Dec 01, 2011

Jason rated it

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Seven very interesting stories about various neurological injuries and disorders and the effects they can have on developing an individual's identity or of adapting to a changing environment. The book is probably best known for its final chapter (and title source) which tells of autistic animal science researcher Temple Grandin, but its most interesting section "The Last Hippie" tells of a man who suffered from a brain tumor which altered his mental state, personality and even physical...more

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Feb 09, 2012

Aldonautico rated it

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Oliver Sacks es un neurólogo con talento literario. Su prosa es muy fluida y llena de ejemplos y referencias a ejemplos y autores que refuerzan los casos de sus pacientes. Pero al principio este libro puede llegar a ser difícil si no se poseen conocimientos sobre el tema. La primera vez que intenté leerlo no pude pasar de la primera historia y creo que no es una buena idea incluirla al principio (aunque están ordenadas cronológicamente). Las primeras 50 páginas son decisivas para el lector; a pa...more

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Dec 22, 2009

Teresa B rated it

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Shelves: non-fiction, mind-body-connection, science, sci-fi

Absoulutely fascinating case studies by a professor of clinical neurology. Made me think differently about the way I think, and the blessing it is to have a "normal" brain. (I know, I know...Many would dispute that assertion!)

The color-blinded painter, the artist who paints from an obsessively intrusive memory of his childhood home, the autistic and savant prodigies in art and music, the man whose sight was restored after decades of blindness, the pilot/surgeon with Toure...more

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Nov 23, 2011

Rhonda rated it

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Every time I read Oliver Sacks, I'm struck by how his somewhat folksy tone, with a British sensibility, meshes with his technical/medical sensibility to create his very distinctive voice. Sacks wants us to realize that the neurologically-impaired amongst us have real crosses to bear and yet, often, live lives they themselves feel whole in. One of the people we meet in this book is a surgeon with Tourettes. Another is a painter who obsesses, through his art, over the village in Italy where he...more

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May 20, 2010

Joje rated it

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I've read some of the chapters from the New Yorker and discussed others with Saskia. Having an actual book in hand is always pleasant, as is being able to reread something appreciated earlier in a new context. Considering that Sacks is the Doktorvater (in spirit, at least) of much else I've read and appreciated in neuroscientific ''vulgarisations'' (ah the French coinages!), I shall enjoy.
Goodness, I didn't realize that this was still in ''to-read''. I started it once it came in and ha...moreI've read some of the chapters from the New Yorker and discussed others with Saskia. Having an actual book in hand is always pleasant, as is being able to reread something appreciated earlier in a new context. Considering that Sacks is the Doktorvater (in spirit, at least) of much else I've read and appreciated in neuroscientific ''vulgarisations'' (ah the French coinages!), I shall enjoy.
Goodness, I didn't realize that this was still in ''to-read''. I started it once it came in and have a couple more chapters to go, although I started in the middle, then began again at the beginning. Knowing that it is a compilation from earlier articles helps to explain some of the repetitions, although they are always interesting. What a humanist!
FInished now, I have little to change of the above. I find the topic in general infinitely intriguing and shall continue exploring it in a way similar to how Temple, the anthropologist of the title, explores her autism in the world. Similar but different: I do not dedicate my weekends to reading up on neuroscience by any means, but much does turn in my head as gardening or even working. Other things do, too, of course, so this is probably the difference. Maybe I'll go back and read The Man Who...Hat in full or find another writer on the matter, although who better than Sacks?
Temple on herself: "There are not files in my memory that are repressed. You have files that are blocked. I have none so painful that they're blocked. There are no secrets, no locked doors--nothing is hidden. I can infer that there are hidden areas in other people, so that they can't bear to talk of certain things. The amygdala locks the files of the hippocampus. In me, the amygdala doesn't generate enough emotion to lock the files of the hippocampus."
Interesting is the contrast between how she speaks of her mind (computer or mechanical, though she coddles it) and how Sacks writes of the autistic and ''normal'' minds. Oddly, I bet there are times when each of us has a subject that is not one blocked by us but is by others, and moving between cultures certainly makes one feel like that anthropologist out there on Mars or wherever. When you feel that way in your own country or family (not always, just in certain situations), then you bet you relate to Temple and Stephen and Mr. I.(less)

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May 15, 2011

Jamie rated it

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Shelves: science-and-medicine

While reading The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, I felt as if Sacks wasn't spending enough time with each of his subjects; in this book I felt like he was spending too much time with each one. The details he gave of their lives were often not the details I wanted to know, and I found myself skimming through some of this. However, the people profiled have undeniably fascinating neurological conditions: an artist who suffers sudden-onset colorblindness; a man whose vision is restored after de...more

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Feb 11, 2009

Rebecca rated it

· review of another edition

I cant recall if its in the acknowledgements or I read on her site, but C.S. Friedman mentioned this book when she was discussing the different types of Gueran in her book This Alien Shore (which i ABSOLUTELY LOVE AND AM OBSESSED WITH), so i decided to borrow it and have a read.

Oliver Sacks writes really well and makes all the stories about the people in the book very interesting, though sometimes he uses medical terms that i have NO CLUE what they ae and as i was mostly reading this...more

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Feb 08, 2012

Danielle rated it

Shelves: non-fic

Well Mr. Oliver Sacks... you have made me a believer. I am not at all a non fiction lover. I barely read any non fiction. But as a college student i often have no choice. and this is the first non fiction book i read in full. Half of the medical cases in this book had my jaw on the floor. After this book I want to continue in the adventure of real life. The book not only kept my intrist but had me doing additional research. The story The Last Hippie was by far the saddest thing I've read. To hea...more

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Oct 29, 2011

Kellyann rated it

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Shelves: read-in-2011

I nearly put this book down midway through the first of its seven neurological case studies. It, and thankfully only one of the others, went into way too much technical detail to keep my interest. In general, I'd say that I was less than impressed with the book, though a few of the studies were quite interesting. Sacks has a tendency to beat dead whatever point he's trying to make and also to rely very heavily on excerpts, quotations and footnotes that detract from the flow. I appreciate the...more

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Feb 04, 2011

Deanna rated it

This book is absolutely fascinating to me! Oliver Stack takes a look at some very intellectual material, but, because of his compassion, is able to help the average person grasp what it all means. He looks at different neurological disorder cases he's studied, such as a surgeon with tourrette's syndrome and discusses what that means to the person, his peers, or to us trying to relate to others like him. The general idea that stood out to me with this book is that our brains are amazing. When...more

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Nov 22, 2010

lori rated it

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This book is truly fascinating in its exploration of the human mind and how it deals with (and deals with the lack of) visual and cognitive perception and memory. The author delves into case studies of individuals with such conditions as Tourette's, autism, as well as various losses and/or impairments and how the brain re-wires and adapts itself in order to succeed in life. I like Oliver Sacks' ability to recognize the 'loss' in the impairment, but focus instead on what the individual GAINS fr...more

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Aug 17, 2011

Michael Burnam-fink rated it

Shelves: medicine, 2011

Oliver Sacks does cognitive science in the best sense. Away from neurons, and systems, and syndromes, and into reality of perception, and different kinds of perception. From a artist who loses his color, to a man who regains his sight, he delves into altered perceptions to find out how the mind works to understand reality. The final half of the book is concerned with autism, and the profoundly strange and isolating world of the autistic. Some people, Temple Grandin particular, have learned to...more

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Jan 22, 2012

Luis rated it

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En este libro del genial Oliver Sacks, al que ya conocía por la adaptación al cine de su obra "Despertares", se describen siete casos de personas con una alteración neurológica que cambia su vida y su forma de pensar, pero no tanto como pudiera parecerlo.

Las siete personas cuyas vidas aparecen relatadas en el libro, a razón de unas 60 páginas para cada una de ellas, se nos muestran a principio raras o imposibles: un cirujano con síndrome de Tourette, un pintor ciego al color ...more

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About Oliver Sacks

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 phys...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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The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat & Other Clinical Tales

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

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“Some people with Tourette's have flinging tics- sudden, seemingly motiveless urges or compulsions to throw objects..... (I see somewhat similar flinging behaviors- though not tics- in my two year old godson, now in a stage of primal antinomianism and anarchy)” — 1 person liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567722.An_Anthropologist_on_Mars?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175871773m/567722.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567722.An_Anthropologist_on_Mars?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales by Oliver Sacks[/url]

An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales

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