Oliver Sacks's Blog, page 11

Dragons and Doctors

Happy Year of the Dragon! It seems like an auspicious time to announce that Dr. Sacks's next book, HALLUCINATIONS, is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2012. Stay tuned for updates, and a sneak peak or two!

We are excited also to announce the publication of Writer, M.D.: The Best Contemporary Fiction and Nonfiction by Doctors. This collection includes Dr. Sacks's "The Lost Mariner," along with pieces by many of our favorite writers: Pauline Chen, Atul Gawande, Leah Kaminsky, Perri Klass, Robert Jay Lifton, Danielle Ofri, Abraham Verghese, and others. A percentage of proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to the Starlight Children's Foundation.

Jerome Groopman opens the book beautifully when he writes: "A physician works at the border between science and the soul."

Speaking of science, many of us are thinking at this time of year about improving our diet and exercise habits. If you have read The Island of the Colorblind, you might be interested in this fascinating follow-up to the "bat" hypothesis, originally proposed in 2002 by Paul Cox and Oliver Sacks. The plot continues to thicken… and the science is not yet definitive. But in the meantime, you may want to think twice about the health effects of "blue-green algae" (really cyanobacteria) drinks and "superfoods."

Wishing you all a healthy, happy Year of the Dragon, with much good reading, great music, and the company of friends and family.

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Thanks to you

Thanksgiving is here, and we are thankful for your support, your comments, and your emails and letters. In particular, as Dr. Sacks finishes up the manuscript for his book on hallucinations, we are very grateful to all who have written to him about their own experiences with hallucinations (and everything else). Thank you!!

We are also grateful for the power of music. Last week, ABC's Nightline aired this special on Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford's incredible progress using melodic intonation therapy to regain speech after a bullet passed through the left side of her brain, causing her to lose expressive speech. Her journey has been deeply inspiring, and we'd like to take this opportunity to salute music therapists, speech therapists, occupational and physical therapists, too. These dedicated professionals know all about brain plasticity and are devoted to helping the rest of us utilize it. Saludos!

We give thanks, always, for books and book people. What's Dr. Sacks reading these days? He has been returning to a perennial favorite, William James's Principles of Psychology (his edition is so well-thumbed its cover has long since worn away). He has been excited by a new book on dolphin intelligence–biologist Diana Reiss's The Dolphin in the Mirror, and one on the conquest of Mount Everest–Wade Davis's Into the Silence. And he is looking forward to reading Eugenia Bone's Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms–not only to learn more about hallucinations, but because mushrooms are some of the coolest and most overlooked members of the botanical world (well, at least they used to be plants, before scientists figured out that they weren't…).

The Mind’s Eye in paperback!

Dr. Sacks’s newest book, The Mind’s Eye, debuted in paperback this month. Tell us what you think of the new cover . . . and the striking new set of covers for Migraine, An Anthropologist on Mars, Seeing Voices, Awakenings, Uncle Tungsten, and Island of the Colorblind—wow!

The Mind's Eye in paperback!

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Dr. Sacks's newest book, The Mind's Eye, debuted in paperback this month. Tell us what you think of the new cover . . . and the striking new set of covers for Migraine, An Anthropologist on Mars, Seeing Voices, Awakenings, Uncle Tungsten, and Island of the Colorblind—wow!

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Now on DVD: The Music Never Stopped

In addition to the e-books and audiobooks mentioned in our last newsletter, we thought you'd like to know that The Music Never Stopped, the inspiring movie based on a chapter from An Anthropologist on Mars, is available now on DVD. It tells the story of a young man lost in the depths of amnesia and reunited with his father by the power of music. The DVD features extras including an interview with Dr. Sacks and the actors, commentary by director Jim Kohlberg, and deleted scenes. The great soundtrack for the film (including Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills & Nash, and previously unreleased Grateful Dead tracks) is also available by download or CD.

"Let there be songs to fill the air!"

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The Sex Life of Horsetails

Have you ever smelled, seen, heard or felt something that isn't there? Dr. Sacks is working on a new book about (mostly) non-psychotic hallucinations—those associated with delirium, migraine, blindness, intoxication, and a host of other conditions. He would be interested to know about your experiences if you'd like to share them. (Apologies, we may not be able to send a personal reply to all.)

Meanwhile, the good doctor has been making botanical forays again—his latest one, on the sex life of horsetails, is the subject of a "Talk of the Town" piece in this week's New Yorker.

Some of his earlier books are newly available in different formats:

Audiobooks: including introductions by Dr. Sacks (for The Mind's Eye, he reads the whole chapter on his own eye tumor).

e-books: The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, Musicophilia, The Mind's Eye, and Vintage Sacks are all available now in e-book form, with more titles coming soon.

Folio Society Edition: Just published—a beautifully bound and illustrated limited edition of The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat.

Check our Twitter, Facebook for the latest updates. Check our YouTube channel for a new video about the power of "doing."

P.S.: Word of the month: dehiscence (the botanical kind!)

Tourettesville

This month is Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month in New York State. The syndrome, characterized by involuntary body movements or vocalizations, was first described in 1885 by the French neurologist Georges Gilles de la Tourette, and for the better part of a century, it was regarded as a rare disorder.

That started to change in 1972, when a small group of parents gathered around a kitchen table in Bayside, New York, to form the Tourette Syndrome Association. Around the same time, Dr. Sacks began writing about Tourette's; he went on to publish essays about it in his books The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, An Anthropologist on Mars (in a chapter that was originally titled "The World's Only Flying Touretter Surgeon"), and Musicophilia, as well as in various medical journals (check out Sacks by Subject for a full list of his writings on TS).

These days, Tourette's is almost a household word, thanks to many portrayals (some accurate, some not so) in the media. It is now understood that the condition affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, and there are research and advocacy groups devoted to TS around the globe.

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In spite of these advances, people with Tourette Syndrome still face too much social stigma.  Although coprolalia (outbursts of obscene or derogatory language) makes for colorful television characters, most people with TS do not have this symptom. Still, the more common vocal and motor tics often cause difficulties in school, work or family life—in large part due to a lack of understanding and awareness by others.

So we salute people living with TS (and their parents!), and hope you will take an opportunity this month to learn more about the syndrome.

P.S.: The Tourette name was also given to an English microcar built in the mid-1950s. We're betting it got great mileage!

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New Videos on YouTube!

Spring greetings!

We have posted some new videos on Dr. Sacks's YouTube channel, in which he reacts to the new film based on his work, "The Music Never Stopped." (If you have not yet seen the movie,check to find a theatre near you.)

On YouTube, Dr. Sacks talks about music therapy, how he met Mickey Hart and became a Grateful Dead fan, and the story of Greg F., the real patient behind the story in the film.

He also discusses many of the themes in The Mind's Eye, exploring stereo vision with "Stereo" Sue Barry, and how he copes with being face-blind.

We leave you with a cool website on visual phenomena and optical illusions, by Prof. Dr. Michael Bach in Freiburg. Enjoy!

The Last Hippie and the Grateful Dead

Dr. Sacks's essay "The Last Hippie" is the basis for the new feature film, The Music Never Stopped, directed by Jim Kohlberg and starring J. K. Simmons, Lou Taylor Pucci, Cara Seymour and Julia Ormond. It is a story about the profound power of music, even in the face of devastating neurological problems.

The journey from essay to film has been a long, strange trip with some delightfully unexpected companions along the way. Back in August of 1991, Dr. Sacks testified in U. S. Senate hearings on the power of music therapy, and there he met Mickey Hart, the legendary Grateful Dead percussionist known for his work on rhythm and healing. A few weeks later, at Mickey's invitation, Dr. Sacks (heretofore a Bach and Mozart man) went to his first rock concert—the Grateful Dead at Madison Square Garden. He brought his deeply amnesic patient Greg F. to a subsequent concert—an event that he wrote about in his essay "The Last Hippie" (found in An Anthropologist on Mars).

Over the next few days, we will post new video clips of Dr. Sacks talking about Greg, the Grateful Dead, and music therapy.  Check our Facebook, Twitter or YouTube channel for the latest updates!

The Music Never Stopped will open on March 18, 2011 in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, and Kansas City, with additional cities to be announced. Check here for info on advance screenings in these and other cities.

Join Dr. Sacks, Jim Kohlberg, and Mickey Hart on March 16, 2011, for the gala premiere of the film, followed by Q&A, at the 92 St. Y in New York City. Proceeds will benefit the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function.

Music, Metals, and Learning

The Mind's Eye is available now in English, German, Dutch, and Portuguese (Brazil), with more translations on the way. Dr. Sacks discusses the book, and many other topics, on his new YouTube channel.

"The Music Never Stopped," the independent feature film based on Dr. Sacks's essay "The Last Hippie," made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival this month, and will open in theaters in March. It is a moving story about the healing power of music, with a soundtrack featuring the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Meanwhile, "Molly Sweeney," the Brian Friel play inspired by "To See and Not See" (another of the essays in An Anthropologist on Mars) opens tonight at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City, with performances through March 13.

And on February 10, at New York's 92nd St. Y, Dr. Sacks will be in conversation with Jonathan Weiner, discussing Weiner's latest book, on the science of immortality.

Dr. Sacks will be speaking at two conferences this spring:  WNET's Celebration of Teaching and Learning (New York, March 18-19) and, for the metallurgically inclined, the InternationalMinor Metals Conference (Philadelphia, May 4-6). What exactly is a "minor metal"? See our Footnote of the Month.

Finally, we want to share with you Dr. Sacks's New York Times article on New Year's resolutions, and we wish you many good learning experiences, whatever they may be, in 2011.

PS: Did you know you can follow Dr. Sacks on Twitter and Facebook?  Our favorite tweet this month was about the world's smallest Periodic Table.  And here's a bonus for squid lovers.