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A Leg to Stand On

by Oliver Sacks (Goodreads Author)

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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Dec 08, 2012 William rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: medicine, 20-ce, nonfiction, memoir, autobiography, mental-illness

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 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, but when he clambers into the paddock of a bull despite ample signage warning him away, you wonder. In due course, he comes across the bull, which really does nothing more than raise it massive horned head. The animal never pursues Sacks. Yet the good doctor panics, bolts madly across a meadow, falls and brutally severs the quadriceps of his left leg. He is lucky he doesn't die on the mountain for he is miles from his village lodging and the nights even in summer are freezing. Almost miraculously he is found crawling back to town by a couple of hunters, a father and son. In short order he is flown to London where he proceeds to experience a profound sense of "alienation" from his leg. He excoriates his surgical team for their lack of bedside manner. That is itself something you rarely see in print or in life: one doctor criticizing another. But the fair-minded Sacks soon comes to realize that the problem goes deeper than his surgeon. It's symtomatic of the healthcare juggernaut as a whole. Sacks has been deliberately left alone with his thoughts and what ensues is a profound dissociation from his leg. He feels it is "no longer part of him," that the leg is "dead," that it will never return to full use. He undergoes a clinically pure example of loss of proprioception. This is the sense we all have of our bodily posture. Nurse Sulu enters Sacks's hospital room one day in alarm. His leg has fallen out of bed and splayed itself at a strange angle. Yet Sacks lies in bed with the distinct impression that the leg is still in bed with him, tidily tucked away. He is shocked upon lifting his head from the pillow. He exhorts Nurse Sulu to move the leg this way and that. He is unable to tell what position she has put the leg in with his eyes closed. In the first half of the book Sacks worked from his own journal and he was careful to leave the fear and exclamations in, his at times irrational circular reasoning. He wants us to know how frightening the whole experience is, not just for himself, but for those in the same predicament. The moment on the mountain pales in comparison to the horrors he experiences in the hospital. Sacks undergoes a profound alteration of body image. The injury, subsequent surgery and casting of his leg has led to desensitization and atrophy until he "forgets" how to use it. He is left abed for 14 days. The second half of the book is a consideration of his experience from a clinical perspective. I don't mean to say that the first part of the book is not of interest, but it is when Sacks begins his consideration of the neurological reasons for his experience that for me the book began to sing. There are fascinating explications of how the brain "sees" the body, as well as the neural correlates for all this. The section of the brain dedicated to body-image, as it turns out, is the somatosensory cortex, part of the parietal lobe. Eventually Sacks leads the reader thoughtfully through the available literature on body image. There isn't much, to be sure. Among these is a work entitled Reflex Paralysis generated by surgeons of the hand during the American Civil War (1861-65). I am glossing over a lot here. The book is an intellectual feast on many levels. It is almost unbelievably rich feast for the thorough reader. In the end though it's a very human book, a book about all of us. Highly recommended.(less)

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Oct 15, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

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Apr 21, 2012 Ron rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

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 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. In his books and TV interviews (e.g., "Glorious Accident"), and in Robin Williams' portrayal of him in "Awakenings," he comes across as anything but the stereotypical doctor. But he learns plenty from his experience anyway, and not just from the imperious surgeon who insists that there's nothing wrong with Sacks now that his leg has been repaired or the jolly hockey-stick nurse who is copeless when he does not respond to physical therapy.

He also learns first hand the terror of being injured, alone, and far from any other humans to rescue him. He experiences the helplessness that can overwhelm a person who not only loses the use of a limb, but as a "patient," loses his identity as an independent person. Sacks' descriptions of his feelings as a patient, sometimes soaring, sometimes despairing, are vividly told and are a reminder to any healthcare worker of the wild fluctuations of emotions that a patient can experience, even from one hour to the next.

Another fascinating aspect of the book is its account of the mystery of healing. Sacks describes in great detail the slow and unpredictable experience of recovering the ability to walk again. And he gives special consideration to the process of "re-entry," as he spends time in a sanatorium, among others who are healing, finally venturing out into the world on his own to rediscover himself and his lost independence.

Sacks is a vivid and analytical writer, with a rich gift of language. This is a slender book, but much is packed into it. It is a journey through the looking glass for any healthcare worker who has never been hospitalized with a serious and debilitating injury or illness, and should be required reading. (less)

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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 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 intimate relish.

And then he analyses everything to death, which I really love because a) it is fascinating and b) it is just what I'm like myself. The injury to his leg caused him to feel, for a period of time, that there was no leg there. His brain lost all connection with the limb. It was the opposite of phantom limb syndrome - in fact he brings that connection in at the end.

He was a doctor. He became a patient. He experienced not being listened to, in the most profound way. He realised, in the end, that the patients:

"were all much wiser than the doctors who treated them! There is among doctors, in acute hospitals at least, a presumption of stupidity, in their patients. And no one was 'stupid', no one is stupid, except the fools who take them as stupid. Working in a chronic hospital, with the same patients, one gains a greater respect for them -- for their elemental human wisdom, and the special 'wisdom of the heart'. But at that first breakfast with my 'brothers' -- not my colleagues in expertise, but my fellow-patients, fellow-creatures -- and throughout my stay in the Convalescent Home, I saw that one must oneself be a patient, and a patient among patients, that one must enter both the solitude and the community of patienthood, to have any real idea of what 'being a patient' means, to understand the immense complexity and depth of feelings, the resonances of the soul in every key -- anguish, rage, courage, whatever -- and the thoughts evoked, even in the simplest practical minds, because as a patient one's experience forces one to think."

Sacks works for his illumination. He doesn't arrive at wise statements lightly. Because of that, I was even able to go with him in his final commitment to finding "a neurology of the soul". I've been thinking ever since about what he means by 'the soul'. I love a book that leaves me thinking.

He also reminded me that the ego, according to Freud, is primarily a body ego. Which is just, if you think about it, as interesting. . . .

(less)

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May 23, 2010 E rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, bodies, memoir-bio

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 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 disturbances of function, Sacks argues that the sort of "severe disturbances of body-image and body-ego" he (and many of his patients) experienced "occur as a result of peripheral injury, disease or disorder." Instead, what is needed is a scientific revolution that considers the consciousness of body parts, a "clinical ontology" that essentially amounts to a detour into Kantian reason (later, and I think unfortunately, renounced in the afterword):

"I saw clearly that such experiences were physiological in origin, but equally that they could not be fitted into the classical model. It was clear to me that we needed a 'neurology of identity,' a neurology which could explain how different parts of the body (and their space) could be 'owned' (or 'lost'), a neurological basis for the coherence and unification of perception (especially after this had been disturbed by damage or disease). We needed a neurology which could escape from the rigid dualism of body/mind, the rigid physicalist notions of algorithm and template, a neurology which could match the richness and density of experience, its sense of scene and music, its personeity, its ever-changing flow of experience, of history, of becoming [...:] Such phenomenological changes require a formulation in terms not of systems, but of selves; require a neurology of identity; require a theory of identity, memory, 'space,' which can knit them together, show them as inseparable, aspects of a single, global process. They need, in short, a biological theory of consciousness."

I wonder how these theories and concepts have changed/evolved in the 17 years since the afterword was included.(less)

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Aug 28, 2010 Jimmy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: doctors, nurses, and patients

Shelves: male, non-fiction, united-kingdom, year-1980s

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 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 haven't read him before, is a neurologist who writes very accessible, empathetic books about various disorders of the brain. I've read a few a long time ago, but what sets Dr. Sacks apart is that he writes like a scientist from the good old days, reminding me at times of Darwin, William James, Da Vinci etc. in that he is a broad thinker, bringing in the arts, music, poetry as equals. This doesn't make him any less rigorous, only that he acknowledges the power of these other fields, and that what we are dealing with is ultimately human. As his maiden aunt reminds him in his sick bed: "All the trouble starts when people forget they're human."

A few years ago, when my dad had to be hospitalized because of a heart problem, I could see the fear, anguish, and confusion in his eyes whenever I visited him. His stay was thankfully short, but there were many instances in which we felt like we were being shushed, dismissed, not-listened to. The environment is the exact opposite of what an environment of healing and well-being should be--at least emotional well-being, which is half the battle. It seemed like the professionals were only focused on my dad's surgery, and not with the stress of the entire experience (by the way, stress is one of the main causes of heart disease).

In this book, Oliver Sacks is the patient, whereas his usual role is doctor, and finds himself in the same predicament as my dad. But this book isn't a bitter diatribe about "the system". It is an attempt to understand both sides of the doctor/patient equation, as well as an attempt to document the EXPERIENCE of being a patient, the alienation, the striving for answers about his own body. At the end of the book, he talks about how little literature there is out there that is from the patient's perspective. How can we begin to heal if we cannot be empathetic towards the patient?

Beyond this, I was amazed at Dr. Sacks's ability to draw upon his large reservoir of the arts to comfort him and to help him understand his condition. He quotes Wittgenstein, Eliot, the book of Job and others, and he uses Mendelssohn to help him heal. As much as I read, I don't know if I would be able to use what I've read in such a pragmatic way, to gain insight and comfort into my current condition.

Lastly, Dr. Sacks writes vividly, and often his descriptions were truly epiphanic if you imagine yourself in his position. He reasons in and out and around corners about why he is feeling certain sensations, and you really feel like this is a scientist's constant exploratory mind at work. It is a pity that the doctors didn't listen to what he had to say, as they would've learned quite a bit.

My only complaint may be that at times he went on too long, repeating himself in much the same words he did several pages back.

I think all doctors, nurses, and health care professionals should read this book. Patients should read it too, so that they feel less alone in their experiences.(less)

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May 25, 2010 Aerin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, nonfiction, neuroscience

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

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Mar 05, 2013 Ziad Wattar rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 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 تعمل ؟
بفكر جديد يعود أوليفر ساكس بعد عشر أيام تقريباً ليزيل الجبيرة و تخطوا الخطوات الأولى التي تعلمه أن الحل في المشي .. الحل في اي مشكلة هي مواجهتها و المضي قدماً لتتجاوزها .. لا بد من ذلك
فترة النقاهة و مشاركة التجارب للأخرين و معرفة ما يمر به المريض فعلاً .. أمر استطاع أوليفر نقله ببث حي و صورة جلية ...
كانت تجربة رائعة عندما ذكر أنه تعرض لحادئة أخرى بعد فترة من الزمن و لكنه ما لبث أن شفي منها ببساطة و بسرعة غير متوقعة نتيجة الخبرات المتراكمة عن التجربة السابقة و ذلك يرسخ مفهوم الشفاء الحقيقي نتيجة لتغير الأفكار ... تلك الأفكار التي تعيق تقدمنا في كل وقت و تجعلنا مرضى من دون مرض
شكراً دكتور أوليفر .. تعلمت من كتابك الكثير و كان بالنسبة لي تجربة حياة كاملة .. (less)

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Aug 30, 2007 Miriam rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sciences, summer2007

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.

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Nov 11, 2009 Lightreads rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: disability, memoir, nonfiction, psychology

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

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Apr 03, 2008 Kim rated it 2 of 5 stars

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.

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Feb 28, 2013 Fatema Hassan , bahrain rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: أعيد-دوزنتي

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

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Nov 21, 2012 Raghoody rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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Mar 14, 2013 Dania rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. أولفر ساكس ...اريد ساقا أقف عليها ... بل هو يرد أن يخرج ذاك الانسان الصبور القوي ذو القدرات العجيبة يرد أن يتغلب على نفسه يثبت رجاحة عقله,, من اجمل المقاطع ذلك الطبيب الذي هو أشبه بمهرج دخل الى غرفته بالمشفى أثره الراائع بقي في نفسي ونفسه ... عندما اصبح مريضا عشت معه كل اللحظات ,, وصفه لساقه في تلك اللحظات كان مرعب شعور لأحسده عليه ,, عشت هذه اللحظات وكانت تعابير وجهي هي التي تعكس ذلك,, فترة النقاهة كانت من أجمل الفترات ,, نسي المه بعض الشي واصبح يرى الطبيعة من حوله ,, شارك البعض في مرضهم,, وفي...more

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Feb 07, 2013 HalaH Amin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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Jan 06, 2008 Keith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: psychology-and-cognitive-science

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.

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Aug 17, 2011 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

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

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Sep 07, 2012 Wendy rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

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Nov 30, 2012 Renée Damstra rated it 5 of 5 stars

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

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Nov 18, 2012 Swapnil N rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

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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

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Apr 28, 2011 Dakota Lane rated it 5 of 5 stars

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

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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

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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

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Feb 13, 2012 Penny rated it 4 of 5 stars

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.

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Jul 15, 2012 Ekhlas As Sa'edi rated it 4 of 5 stars

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.

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Feb 01, 2012 Ian rated it 3 of 5 stars

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.

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Nov 20, 2010 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: health, memoir, psychology, science

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

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Dec 15, 2009 Marty Babits rated it 5 of 5 stars

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.

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Oct 22, 2012 Dalal rated it 5 of 5 stars

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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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 physician, and E...more 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 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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