A Leg to Stand On

A Leg to Stand On

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3.84 of 5 stars 3.84  ·  rating details  ·  927 ratings  ·  70 reviews
Dr. Oliver Sacks's books Awakenings, An Anthropologist on Mars and the bestselling The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat have been acclaimed for their extraordinary compassion in the treatment of patients affected with profound disorders. In A Leg to Stand On, it is Sacks himself who is the patient: an encounter with a bull on a desolate mountain in Norway has left him wi...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published April 29th 1998 by Touchstone (first published 1984)
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William
Wow, what a marvelous book! I'd always thought: "how can even the brilliant Oliver Sacks write a 200-page book about his own leg?" That would have to be one of the great works of solipsism, wouldn't it? And it is, it is--the book is among other things a fascinating investigation of self, but it goes beyond that. In 1974 Dr. Sacks (a shy bookish man by temperament) went for a friendly climb of a 7,000 foot mountain in Norway. I don't know if you can say that Dr. Sacks does anything thoughtlessly,...more
Michael
Doing journalism, I spend a lot of time reading through interview transcripts, looking for quotes that really drive home a point, that are overstated enough to build an argument on, to make my articles seem relevant and important. Sacks would be the best interview in the world. Every insight is an earth-shattering revelation; every challenge is a close call with the abyss; etc. etc.

He seems to be writing for an intended audience of physicians and medical students, so maybe his aim in writing li...more
Ron
On one level, this is a doctor-becomes-patient story, with the many revelations that come to those in medicine who suddenly find themselves at the other end of the stethoscope. For anyone who's been a patient, there's some satisfaction in reading stories like this in which an ill or injured doctor finds out "what it's really like" to be in a hospital bed and more or less at the mercy of the medical profession.

I suppose Oliver Sacks isn't quite a likely candidate for this tables-turned scenario....more
Helen (Helena/Nell)
Feb 13, 2012 Helen (Helena/Nell) rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Most intelligent adults
Recommended to Helen (Helena/Nell) by: Marguerite Nesling
I am sort of addicted to Oliver Sacks lately. At least I seem to be reading my way through his complete works, bit by bit, even the heavy one on migraine. My favourite remains (so far) The Mind's Eye, but this ran it a close second.

The experience is personal, and he's a beautiful writer. I loved the opening chapter. I was up there on the mountain with him. I shared every moment of the strange meeting with the minotaur (not exactly) and the breaking leg. He communicates precise sensation with i...more
E
My attention ebbed and flowed as Sacks recounted his own experiences of first being injured by a bull in Norway, becoming a patient and then convalescing, but the last chapter and the 1993 afterword, when he generalizes about the alienation he felt from his injured leg, are really excellent peeks into the world of neuropsychology. Criticizing classical neurology for being too focused on a Humean understanding of empirical science and neglecting experiences of "self" in favour of a focus on distu...more
Jimmy
Aug 28, 2010 Jimmy rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: doctors, nurses, and patients
A very engaging book in which Oliver Sacks, through a bizarre accident involving a bull at the top of a mountain, ended up badly breaking his leg, damaging the nerves there, and half dragging himself down the mountain to get help. At this point, the narrative changes. He is hospitalized and becomes a patient for about 6 weeks. At first, the idea of reading about someone's leg slowly healing might sound dull. But this isn't anyone's leg, this is Oliver fucking Sack's leg!

Oliver Sacks, if you have...more
Aerin
A fascinating neurological self-study, A Leg To Stand On is Sacks's account of his recovery from a serious leg injury.

You'd think a book with this subject would be boring: what could be less interesting than a story about being laid up in a hospital for months? And at times, it is boring, but mostly just because Sacks never uses one word where twelve would do, and is a huge fan of the long and tangential footnote. Most of the time, though, it's a surprisingly captivating account.

All of the actio...more
Ziad Wattar
في بحر مليء بالأمواج الهائجة خاض بنا البحر عرضاً الدكتور أوليفر ساكس .. سافرت معه في كل التفاصيل ... تألمت لألمه و حزنت لما يمر به .. كنت أتمنى أن أذكره دوماً أن التفكير الإيجابي هو الحل لكل مشكلة .. كلنا معرض لهذه الحادثة ... يصف لنا الدكتور ساكس ما مر به من معاناة نتيجة فقدانه للساق حسياً و حركياً حيث كان يعتبرها أنها غير موجودة بالنسبة له و أنها كائن غريب ... و لكنها صورياً موجودة بالفعل ، فما نفعها إذا كانت لا تتحرك .. لا بد من طريقة تؤدي لإستعادة إرشادات كيفية عمل الساق .. يبدو أنه نسي كيف...more
Miriam
In this book, Sacks writes about the conditions of injury and patienthood and their effects on the psyche, using an extreme, autobiographical example. The writing is sometimes (okay, often) overwrought, and there is little suspense throughout the entire narrative. However, as a description of a curious condition, this book succeeds.
Lightreads
Sacks completely wrecked his leg in a run-in with a bull on a mountain in Norway, and barely got out alive. This is his memoir of his recovery, focusing on his post-operative distress to discover that the leg was psychologically absent from his body awareness, thanks probably to undiagnosed nerve damage.

I picked this up on a tangent from other research, and it was useful as subjective narrative. But it's also grossly overwritten in places. I'm kind of torn, because this book is clearly trauma po...more
Kim
My star rating about sums it up. It was okay. He discusses some interesting topics associated with consciousness and self, some of it a little beyond my ability to differentiate, I just think he could have covered the same ground in about half the time.
Fatema Hassan , bahrain

د أوليفر ساكس
حباً ب الله أريد أن أسألك ألا تكف عن السّقوط؟؟

أحببت هذا الكتاب جيداً ، ولطالما تسائلت لمن ستكون الغلبة في إصدار الأوامر في الجسد البشري ( للإيماء أو للإيحاء ؟) النظام العصبي بفطرته رسائل وأشارات تُرسل الدماغ كما هو متعاوفٌ عليه .. ذاك في حالة الجسم الطبيعي ، لكن الجسم الذي فقد القدرة طبيعياً ما الذي سيعيد الأمور إلى نصابها .. منظومة الإيحاء والأيماء التي تحيرني كثيراً ، يحدث أن يصمّ المرض أذنيه متجاهلاً تيهنا و شاطئ العافية بعيد

الأكثرية يعتبرون المرض والإعاقة قوقعة .. بعيداً عن جد...more
Raghoody

رواية جميلة :)

وجدت نفسي متفاعلة بشدة مع حالة الكاتب بعد إصابته .. وشعرت بالمعنى والمغزى من وراء الرواية .. لتكون طبيباً عليك ان تشعر بما يعاني به مريضك .. المرض ليس جسدياً فقط يصيب النفس أيضاً .. تتغير أحاسيس المريض ويعتمد على غيره كثيراً .. لذلك وجدت فترات النقاهة وكأنها وسيط بينهم وبين عالم الأصحاء ، الذي أصبحوا يخشونه ويحقدون عليه !
فقدان الإحساس بالشيء .. بقطعة من جسدك إحساس شنيع جداً ولا أحد يفهمك .. تفكر هل أصبت بالجنون ؟

أعتقد أن هذه الرواية أضافت لي الكثير .. هي المرة الأولى التي أقرأ لأول...more
Dania
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HalaH Amin
أن تكون طبيبا شيء وأن تكون الطبيب المريض شيء آخر
...
أوليڤر ساكس في هذا الكتاب يقدم لنا شخصيته كطبيب مريض
تعرض لسقطة شنيعة في جبل احد المناطق النرويجية
ويحكي لنا تجربته في فقدان الإحساس بساقه التي تعرضت لتمزق في أربطة العضلة رباعية الرؤوس وبعض الأعصاب
...
كل تلك الأوهام والوساس والصراعات التي كانت تصر على جعله يشعر يوما بعد يوم أنه سيفقد ساقه
سيعيش عاجزا بساق واحدة وعكازات
تلك الساق التي فقد الاحساس بها وشعر بأنها غريبة عنه ولا تمت له بصلة
تقلب حالته النفسية بين وبين وكيف حاول جاهدا باستجلاب كل ما من أنه...more
Keith
This book is particularly fascinating because it turns the tables on Sacks -- he's the patient here, suffering from a neurological problem that in another context he might be diagnosing in a patient of his own.
John
Audible just brought this one out in audio, a year or so after Sacks' latest The Mind's Eye; my library didn't have a print copy of "Leg", so I spent a credit on it. Both books deal with the issue of doctor-as-patient, but this one's less approachable. Once he's rescued in Norway, and sent off to Britain for treatment, the story becomes progressively more inward and self-absorbed. I was interested when he veered towards the mind-body connection in healing, but otherwise his thoughts were just th...more
Wendy


I started reasons Oliver Sacks after I a healthcare Practioner found that I was on the other side of the stethoscope an not being "listened" too. Oliver's first hand account helped me cope & overcome a very difficult time. His ability to write explicitly about exactly what I was experiencing inspired me to re-approach how I communicated with those who cared for me. It also inspired me to get an "advanced directive" and hand pick my healthcare team; Including interviews & seeking intenti...more
Renée Damstra
I read this quite some time ago but still remember the sense of it, estranging dispair of a leg that seems not to be yours, and especially I remember imagining myself walking that lovely lonely walk, the struggle for life, the hopelessness of the situation and confrontation with death and the way it totally turns around again when two people finally find you. It had an impact. The complete bizarreness of life got through to me, how one´s future can completely change within a couple of hours.

Ah a...more
Swapnil N
Have read the 1st chapter of this book, ' The mountain' in which Sacks is describing briefly his treck to the mountain in Norway. How he stumbles upon a bull on the way and how he runs for his life turning back. The major part of the chapter is devoted to the efforts he makes to his way downhill with his 'tripedal' state having injured his left leg.He describes quite vividly and in medical and picturesque terms the damage to his leg and his thoughts, on his way down the mountain with the lifeles...more
kyle
Jan 05, 2011 kyle added it
When Oliver Sacks sustains a serious leg injury, something funny happens. His healing leg no longer feels like his. Though his doctors ignore his concerns, Sacks learns that this experience is common if not talked about. This book combines Sacks' typical insightful writing (the opening story of his encounter with a bull on a Scandinavian mountain that gave him his injury is worth reading alone) with a fascinating exploration of how and why something feels like us and something does not. I'll nev...more
Dakota Lane
s jealous as hell because he recovered so quickly but it was incredible to read while suffering a physical ordeal. what a writer, what a mind! and read a poem in a new book about ten poems to read and reread(will find and post title later, bautiful book) that mentions the very animal he encountered. this author/doctor is alwyas encountering dream figures in real life; i can realte. it goes beyond magic realism in a way i wish i could as an author and a human, as ifhis entire life is a cogniscent...more
Eduardo Santiago
Apr 13, 2010 Eduardo Santiago rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Eduardo by: Lost Art of Walking
I must be on a compassion kick. I picked up this book expecting to learn more neuro, but what I got instead is a view of the road to Enlightenment. Oliver Sacks, already an MD but not yet in the field we know him for, is badly injured. During his recovery he experiences an eerie loss of proprioception, of the sense of whole body. OK, nothing really new there -- that wasn't well documented in 1980, but it certainly is now.

What really captured me, though, was his feelings as he tried--and failed--...more
Todd Johnson
Apr 05, 2008 Todd Johnson rated it 3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Todd by: Anthony
Shelves: brain
It seems like I've been reading a lot of borderline 3-4 star books lately. This one is hard to give only 3 stars, because it was a gift, and I hate to seem ungrateful.

The first third or half of the book is great. The last quarter of the book is good. In between, not as much. It seemed to me that Sacks was way more enamored of the things he was thinking and writing than I was, which was very frustrating. Many times he would repeat the same thought several times, expounding and elaborating tiny n...more
Penny
A memoir about a freak accident he had that led him to experience that his own leg did not exist. He could close his eyes and someone would move his leg and he didn't know it was being moved. This experience which lasted 12 days gave him insight into his own practice as a neurologist. His own surgeon did not take his experience seriously. He was deeply affected by the experience of being a patient and he then talks about how this experience changed his own performance as a physician.
Ekhlas As Sa'edi
قراءة هذا الكتاب كانت تجربة جديدة كلياً بالنسبة لي. وجدتها تجربة مثيرة جدا - بحكم تخصصي- أن أقرأ لطبيب يصيغ مشاهداته الطبية بقالب قصصي روائي و يطرحه للعامة و ليس المجتمع الطبي. كما أن الكتاب يصف حالة معضلة نفسية عصبية مما وافق اهتماماً شخصياً لدي... و لذات السببين السابقين؛ قد لا يعد الكتاب ممتعاً لكل من قرأه. يصف الكاتب بدقة تفاصيل مشكلة صحية تعرّض لها : تحول فيها من الطبيب إلى المريض و كانت في نفس الوقت حالة شيقة قلما وصفت طبيا بالعناية الملائمة.
Ian
While I enjoyed his other works immensely, I got sort of tired of this one midway through. I can't really fault him for accomplishing what he set out to do (describing in agonizing detail his injury and subsequent recovery), but the extended meditations in the middle of the book just became tedious. His shorter, more compact case studies are a bit easier to swallow than this was. Still, not a bad book by any means, just not my favorite Oliver Sacks.
Jo
The neuroscience made for heavy going (for me), but still a fascinating book by a great observer. Especially enlightening: the author's discovery that he needed to create a new field of science to describe and illuminate the experiences he had just undergone himself as the result of a mountain hiking accident, that short-circuited the nerves in his leg. What leg? He no longer believed that he had one, though it was still attached to his body, and capable, in theory, of working. And what a though...more
Marty Babits
I am a fan of Oliver Sacks' writing. This is perhaps his most personal book. Introspective and fiercely exploratory - exploring his inner perception (apperceptions) - he models the essence of profoundly reflective subjectivity here. A story that is fraught with suspense told with lightness and consistent grace.
Dalal


ااااه
للتو أنهيت قراءه هذه الرائعه للبروفيسور ساكس
لااستطيع ان اصف شعوري بالضبط ، هل اقف مذهوله من فلسفته الرائعه ، أم لقصته الغريبه !!
فعلا ! فهو كما قال عن نفسه " انا الطبيب والمريض في الوقت ذاته !" .
ناهيك عن التفاصيل الدقيقه التي لم يهملها ساكس والتي جعلتنا فعلا نشعر بما مر به
انصح بقرائتها
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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 E...more
More about Oliver Sacks...
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