Tracey's review
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales
by Oliver W. Sacks
Tracey's review
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Oliver W. Sacks
Tracey's review
rating:
I'd d started reading The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat sometime last year, but managed to misplace the book. Found it again last week & put it in my "To Read" pile. I grabbed it on the way to the vet appt. What I didn't get read there, I finished when we got home.
It's a collection of stories about men & women with unusual neurological disorders. I say "stories" instead of "case histories" as Sacks treats each patient as a person, not just a diagnosis. The vignettes are grouped by type: Losses, Excesses, Transports and The World of the Simple. I found myself cringing a bit a some of the terminology in the last section, ("retardates", "defectology") even keeping in mind the book dates from 1970.
Sacks makes extensive references to other researchers and works in this field, and occasionally writes above the level of this laypersons' head. I still found it quite a compelling read and am interested in other books (his an...more
It's a collection of stories about men & women with unusual neurological disorders. I say "stories" instead of "case histories" as Sacks treats each patient as a person, not just a diagnosis. The vignettes are grouped by type: Losses, Excesses, Transports and The World of the Simple. I found myself cringing a bit a some of the terminology in the last section, ("retardates", "defectology") even keeping in mind the book dates from 1970.
Sacks makes extensive references to other researchers and works in this field, and occasionally writes above the level of this laypersons' head. I still found it quite a compelling read and am interested in other books (his an...more
