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The Last Interview
Oliver Sacks: The Last Interview and Other Conversations
An extraordinary collection of interviews with the beloved doctor and author, whose research and books inspired generations of readers Oliver Sacks—called “the poet laureate of medicine” by the New York Times—illuminated the mysteries of the brain for a wide audience in a series of richly acclaimed books, including Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and numerous New Yorker articles. In this collection of interviews, Sacks is at his most candid and disarming, rich with insights about his life and work. Any reader of Sacks will find in this book an entirely new way of looking at a brilliant writer.
128 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 30, 2016
104 people are currently reading
1428 people want to read
About the author
Oliver Sacks
102 books9,760 followersOliver Wolf Sacks, CBE, was 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 was a consultant neurologist to the Little Sisters of the Poor, and maintained a practice in New York City.
Since 1996, Sacks was 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 was 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.
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 was a consultant neurologist to the Little Sisters of the Poor, and maintained a practice in New York City.
Since 1996, Sacks was 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 was 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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February 12, 2017
Oliver Sacks was desperately shy and gave very few interviews in his long career as a neurologist and writer. Most of the interviews were at the urging of his publishing company whenever he had a new book out. The book is very slim, a couple of hours reading, and provides no insights at all that Sacks' wonderful autobiography, On the Move didn't reveal. The only interesting part was how he and Robin Williams, who had played Sacks in the film Awakenings, were like twins, sharing memories, thoughts, character and personality traits, and had to put distance between themselves. It must be very odd to have an actor absorb who you are and then talk to you in character.
The book also suffers by being unedited transcripts of the interviews, every umm and ahh included. Ridiculous, this was a book of interviews not transcripts of broadcasts. Not really recommended to anyone. 2.5 stars rounded up.
The book also suffers by being unedited transcripts of the interviews, every umm and ahh included. Ridiculous, this was a book of interviews not transcripts of broadcasts. Not really recommended to anyone. 2.5 stars rounded up.
October 2, 2016
I've always enjoyed the case studies done by Dr. Sacks, but I've never read anything outside of his books. This was quite an intriguing read to see such a personal side. I was absolutely captivated.
It's easy to say that if you're a fan of his books, you'll enjoy this glimpse of this mannerisms.
**Huge thanks to Melville House and Edelweiss for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review**
It's easy to say that if you're a fan of his books, you'll enjoy this glimpse of this mannerisms.
**Huge thanks to Melville House and Edelweiss for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review**
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July 13, 2025‘I certainly have replaced knees and all the rest. On one occasion, I was visited by a fellow weightlifter—he’d had a medal in the Olympics—and we looked at each other at said, “What fools we were.”’
‘We all know that we’re going to die sometime, that human beings are mortal, that life has a limited span, even if one is a sea anemone. Actually, that’s not so if one is a sea anemone. Some sea anemones are three hundred years old and going strong. But when you have something like this, you know it’s there, that it’s not completely removed. And I think it’s given me a paradoxical feeling of how precious life is, and how precious time is.’
‘When I was thinking and writing about people who are deaf, and born deaf, I had a friend—actually a hearing child of deaf parents, extremely fluent in both sign language and speech—who would often come along with me. When I went to the island of the colorblind, which I wrote about in another book, one of my fellow travelers was a physiologist who himself was born totally colorblind. In this way, there can be no condescension or looking at a distance. But now my own cancer is a sort of mediator. Some of my patients at least know that I too am a patient. Although in some sense, we’re all patients.’
‘I mentioned to a friend of mine that I’d had an odd dream about globules of mercury, rising up and down. Mercury—my boyhood was full of chemistry and atomic numbers—mercury is element eighty. And somehow that dream started me off and I wrote the piece in an hour or so and sent it off. But there have been different reactions. I think a majority of people who have anticipated decline, and going down, and losing it—in all sorts of ways, including losing the people they love, their contemporaries—have been somewhat encouraged by the piece.’
‘I still miss them deeply, and recently I’ve been able to find a treasure trove of letters—And these have made me laugh and they’ve made me cry. And, it’s, um, I do miss people intensely.’
‘I love swimming and I feel young and strong, or ageless in the water. I think swimming is one of the few activities one can do for the first century—I have had a lot of impulsive and destructive trades with drugs, and other ways, and my friends didn’t expect me to make thirty, let alone forty, and I think it’s partly due to the good analyst that I’ve actually reached eighty.’
‘But there’s something to be said for late blooming, because late blooming may be part of a continued blooming. There’s something like music or mathematics, when one starts very early, but where experience of life is concerned, I think it has to be relatively late. By the way, I once saw an interview with the two oldest women in the world, though they were only one hundred and fourteen. When they were asked what contributed, the one in Holland said “herring,” she had herring everyday, and the one in Texas said, “minding my own business.”’
February 10, 2024
A tiny volume containing six interviews with Sacks. The editor(s) chose to transcribe them verbatim, preserving all the verbal tics including "ums" and "uhs." (A mistake. Who wants to read that?)
Sacks: I once saw an interview with the two oldest women in the world, though they were only one hundred and fourteen. When they were asked what contributed, the one in Holland said "herring," she had herring everyday [sic*], and the one in Texas said, "minding my own business."
* Everyday is an adjective. This should have been transcribed every day.
March 10, 2022
I love Oliver Sacks and his writing, so this book of six interviews from a 30 year period (1987 – 2015) made my heart sing. I have loved Sacks' deeply humane writing, his empathy, and compassion. As he was described in the RadioLab interview, "the generosity of his curiosity becomes profoundly moving and transformative when he’s treating his patients" (Kindle 1053).
One of his consults was with a woman who was 88 and living in a nursing home. She awoke hearing a song on the radio – when there was none. Sacks eventually determined that she'd had a stroke or some other neurological event, which had caused musical epilepsy. "Now a normal doctor might say, “Okay, we’ve got the diagnosis,” and think that the songs would probably fade and it would pass, so they would be done. But Oliver did not stop. He doesn’t stop" (Kindle 1064).
You know how nobody remembers anything that happens to you when you’re one or two or three? Well, there was a theory once, not honored much today, but it said that those earliest memories get locked away deep in our brains in a special safe that we can never open. So let’s suppose, Mrs. O. C., that your stroke, by some crazy chance, opened the lock that none of us can break, and released those first memories in you, just for a little while. So that the voice you’re listening to … maybe that isn’t a radio voice. Let’s say that it’s your mother’s voice, that’s your missing mother. And so at the ripe old age of eighty-eight, you finally get to be back in your mother’s arms… (Kindle 1075)
Brilliant!
I love the ways Sacks wedded neurology, medicine, science, and poetry as few others have been able to do. Most popular science writers dumb down the science; Sacks assumed that we were as smart and capable and wise as he was.
I enjoy listening to interviews with interesting people, although reading these interviews was not as fresh and exciting an experience as either reading Sacks' essays or listening to interviews. Interviews, especially when presented as transcripts, have difficulty exposing the heart and mind of the interviewed. The last three interviews struck me as the most interested and interesting of the bunch.
Finally, what this book did is make me want to read more Sacks. Or, maybe, to reread the loving and surprising Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me.
…that’s what he does: he listens closely. (Kindle 1084)
One of his consults was with a woman who was 88 and living in a nursing home. She awoke hearing a song on the radio – when there was none. Sacks eventually determined that she'd had a stroke or some other neurological event, which had caused musical epilepsy. "Now a normal doctor might say, “Okay, we’ve got the diagnosis,” and think that the songs would probably fade and it would pass, so they would be done. But Oliver did not stop. He doesn’t stop" (Kindle 1064).
You know how nobody remembers anything that happens to you when you’re one or two or three? Well, there was a theory once, not honored much today, but it said that those earliest memories get locked away deep in our brains in a special safe that we can never open. So let’s suppose, Mrs. O. C., that your stroke, by some crazy chance, opened the lock that none of us can break, and released those first memories in you, just for a little while. So that the voice you’re listening to … maybe that isn’t a radio voice. Let’s say that it’s your mother’s voice, that’s your missing mother. And so at the ripe old age of eighty-eight, you finally get to be back in your mother’s arms… (Kindle 1075)
Brilliant!
I love the ways Sacks wedded neurology, medicine, science, and poetry as few others have been able to do. Most popular science writers dumb down the science; Sacks assumed that we were as smart and capable and wise as he was.
I enjoy listening to interviews with interesting people, although reading these interviews was not as fresh and exciting an experience as either reading Sacks' essays or listening to interviews. Interviews, especially when presented as transcripts, have difficulty exposing the heart and mind of the interviewed. The last three interviews struck me as the most interested and interesting of the bunch.
Finally, what this book did is make me want to read more Sacks. Or, maybe, to reread the loving and surprising Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me.
…that’s what he does: he listens closely. (Kindle 1084)
January 3, 2017
Oliver Sacks was a man of science and empathy, an unfortunately rare combination. These interviews - ranging over the course of 20-some years - paint the picture of a man always seeking new ways of engaging with and listening to the world. His creative mind saw many of his patients' diseases as hidden gifts - if you lose one sense, you will gain a new one. I think he sought (but perhaps never found) ultimate balance. As a young man, he tried drugs scientifically, 'expanding his mind' in the true hippie sense. Once he had a conversation with a spider - another time he saw the color turquoise and swore he saw the color of Heaven. A life of introspection and interaction and well-meaning.
October 6, 2016
If you've listened to Oliver Sacks being interviewed on the radio or television, then you can skip this book. It is written in transcript type of format of different interviews that Sacks conducted, including Charlie Rose, Terry Gross and others. Each interviewer asks him about Robin Williams and how they interacted etc. This slim, 124 page book will be enlightening for those who don't listen or watch media.
Note: I received a free review copy of this book and was not compensated for it.
Note: I received a free review copy of this book and was not compensated for it.
March 26, 2019
Sacks wasn't well-served by his interviewers. Charlie Rose was the most irritating, which comes as no surprise, but I hadn't realised until now just how much Rose was focussed on what he wanted to say rather than on giving space to the person he was interviewing. The majority of these interviews represent wasted opportunities but perhaps that's the case with most interviews. I find the concept of the series rather odd although I'm sure that I'll continue with it. One has to read something in the bath.
October 25, 2020
Suhrn rozhovorov so Sacksom, vacsina spravena s cielom uviest jeho nedavno vydanu knihu. Tematicky su rozhovory aj zaujimave, najma posledny, ktory bol spraveny v rovnakom roku, ked zomrel a kde Sacks otvorene hovori o svojom osobnom zivote, co mi ale vadilo bol format - dynamicky 'zostrih' pre radio ci TV za ucelom propagacie knihy ci autora, opakovanie akoby pre zabudlivych alebo po reklamnom vstupe. To optimisticky-dynamicke tempo ma dost vycerpavalo a tazko som hladala motivaciu pokracovat v citani. Skor by som odporucila precitat si Sacksove vlastne diela, ktore su fascinujuce a zaroven dojimave tym, aky empaticky dokaze byt so svojimi pacientmi.
January 25, 2025
More 4.5.
The copy I had contained some printing errors, so many words were missing letters. I see that several people (on GR) found the transcription off-putting. I didn't mind it as much. I really liked reading about a lot of the author's works that I haven't read, and his personal life, which I knew close to nothing about.
Gives you enough information for you to have the urge to look up more.
The copy I had contained some printing errors, so many words were missing letters. I see that several people (on GR) found the transcription off-putting. I didn't mind it as much. I really liked reading about a lot of the author's works that I haven't read, and his personal life, which I knew close to nothing about.
Gives you enough information for you to have the urge to look up more.
March 27, 2018
A good little read. It really is a smattering of content from his other books/interviews. It’s a fun read about a fascinating person.
February 10, 2018
This series looks set to be a gem! Yet another reason to hit the libraries, you guys! I only discovered this series because it was next to a book I was hunting down and despite what you might think about the Dewey decimal system, it ain't so big on relation after all. Oliver Sacks is a poetic neuroscientist rock star all rolled up into one. But because this series is all transcripts of interviews it would help if you know a little about the subject. If not, the read might feel a bit discombobulated.
October 28, 2018
The book is great if you’re familiar with Sacks’s work. Additionally, it provides great insights into his intellect, mind, and a life equally guided by science and empathy. He is known to write as a biologist and a “biograph-er” and, may i add, he speaks like that as well. The book was informative and a joy to read, although i am still contemplating if Sacks name should be mentioned as the author since its body is built with his words :P
December 22, 2016
I read this little volume within an hour of purchase on the day of release, so eager I was to get my hands on something new by the late, wonderful Dr. Sacks, and even though this was a collection of transcribed interviews, I was not disappointed. I had been familiar with some of the interviews, but that didn't dim my interest. It was nice to revisit them along side the ones I had missed (I was a late-comer to his writing, discovering him two short years before his death, but had read everything else by him before his passing) and compare the interview styles. The only things I can find fault with are one, that it was just so short that I read it in one sitting, and while I understand this publisher's choice of paperback or ebook format, I felt that any series that claims to be The Last Interview ought to be hardback out of respect for the enduring nature of the figures they choose to celebrate. But, those are minor issues and if you loved the previous works of Oliver Sacks, there is absolutely no reason to miss this little collection.
August 22, 2019
A fairly short read, 100 pages with a lot of spacing due to interview format. If you haven't read any of Sacks' other books (I've read most of them, with one more on my bookshelf) I'd recommend you start with The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales instead.
The interviews are more like friendly chats, and ramble a bit.
Sacks focuses on individual stories, seeing the person besides the medical conditions; I like that but I have to remind myself that there are other perspectives, including the social.
The interviews are more like friendly chats, and ramble a bit.
Sacks focuses on individual stories, seeing the person besides the medical conditions; I like that but I have to remind myself that there are other perspectives, including the social.
May 26, 2018
I have always loved Oliver Sacks's books, and I loved this one as well. Perhaps it was only my sadness at his passing that kept me from giving it five stars, but I found the essays a bit--what was it? Dry? A rehash of what he had already done? Both of those descriptions are too negative, yet this book did not hit me in the face with its freshness as much as his others. But here's one of the many things I love about Oliver Sacks. When he found out that his prognosis had become short, he immediately stated that the world was in the good hands of the young, and that he was giving up worrying about climate change! Haha. I find that I am looking forward to that state of mind.
September 27, 2019
Conversations with Oliver Sacks, who keeps getting more saintly, the more You get to know about him. Quite possibly the most positive role model ever to have walked the earth. Right after the obligatory messiahs and prophets of course, if you are inclined to put your faith in gospel. This is the last bit of gospel for Mr. Sacks.
Hmm. Must have been a difficult life though. I am really happy there was some sort of happy ending for him after all. If you, like me, like Oliver Sacks, read this, you'll like it. There is a genuine human shining through. Maybe not a saint, but a much more accomplished specimen of our race than average.
Hmm. Must have been a difficult life though. I am really happy there was some sort of happy ending for him after all. If you, like me, like Oliver Sacks, read this, you'll like it. There is a genuine human shining through. Maybe not a saint, but a much more accomplished specimen of our race than average.
February 21, 2017
While I appreciate unabridged interviews, I thought the amount of "Yeah"s from Charlie Rose was beyond belief. They should have been cut, as they serve no purpose whatsoever, only interrupting the flow of Sacks's answers (and - in the print version - making the reader feel slightly idiotic).
The last interview is the most profound indeed.
The last interview is the most profound indeed.
January 18, 2017
Really beautiful collection of interviews with a chronological time. A nice way to understand Oliver Sacks through intelligent questions from different perspectives.
May 17, 2017
Good, but I have heard all of the interviews.
April 3, 2018
Oliver Sacks – The last interview and other conversations.
· Pages: 208 Pages
· Publisher: Random House
· Language: English
· ISBN: 978-1-612-19651-0
· Genre: Biography
For the longest time now, I was planning on reading an autobiography. While this book isn’t exactly an autobiography, it was something that was right up my ally. This book is super short and contains transcripts of six interviews given by Sacks from 1985 to 2015. Since this book is entirely conversations based, I breezed through it in a couple of hours.
Oliver sacks was born in 1933 in London and was educated at Queen’s college, Oxford. Sacks almost spent 50 years working as a neurologist and encountered many patients and would write about them in many books, including The man who mistook his wife for a hat, Awakenings, Musicophilia, and about strange neurological predicaments and conditions of his patients. Over the years, he received many awards including honours from The National Science Foundation and the Royal College of Physicians. He died in the August of 2015, aged 82.
Throughout these six interviews what we understand is that his persistence to give his patients a humane touch instead of reducing them to a medical condition is what made him stand out from his counterparts and made him so renowned. To connect with his patients with compassion and on an emotional level and understand their predicament and to gain experience from it was made him such world-renowned writer and a neurologist. As we get to know from the interview, Sacks preferred to call his work an intersection of biology and biography instead of just a neurologist.
While in his other books, we get to know about his patients this book tells us about the man himself. His approach to his work, the empathy he nurtured, his shyness, also in the last two interviews where he profoundly talks about dying and old age. If you have not read any of his previous works this is a good book to start with because the first four interviews covered in this book are the interviews he gave before his various book launches and during this he talks about some of his cases he wrote in those books which are truly fascinating such as a man who literally mistook his wife for a height or another case where a guy could see the facial features of other people known as face blindness. The interviews intrigue you to read more of cases like this but also makes you fall in admiration for a man who humanized technology before it dehumanized us.
All said, it was a profound read and certainly convinced me to pick up rest of his elaborate works and know more about the mind-boggling cases. Also Robin Williams played in a movie called Awakenings, which is also based on a Sacks book and you know anything with Williams in it is going to be a gem. Sacks also talks about his Friendship with Robin which is quite fascinating. After reading this book, one thing is sure – you will be felt craving for more of Oliver Sacks and his unusual patients with whom he not only dealt with medicinal procedures but also with creativity and compassion.
· Pages: 208 Pages
· Publisher: Random House
· Language: English
· ISBN: 978-1-612-19651-0
· Genre: Biography
For the longest time now, I was planning on reading an autobiography. While this book isn’t exactly an autobiography, it was something that was right up my ally. This book is super short and contains transcripts of six interviews given by Sacks from 1985 to 2015. Since this book is entirely conversations based, I breezed through it in a couple of hours.
Oliver sacks was born in 1933 in London and was educated at Queen’s college, Oxford. Sacks almost spent 50 years working as a neurologist and encountered many patients and would write about them in many books, including The man who mistook his wife for a hat, Awakenings, Musicophilia, and about strange neurological predicaments and conditions of his patients. Over the years, he received many awards including honours from The National Science Foundation and the Royal College of Physicians. He died in the August of 2015, aged 82.
Throughout these six interviews what we understand is that his persistence to give his patients a humane touch instead of reducing them to a medical condition is what made him stand out from his counterparts and made him so renowned. To connect with his patients with compassion and on an emotional level and understand their predicament and to gain experience from it was made him such world-renowned writer and a neurologist. As we get to know from the interview, Sacks preferred to call his work an intersection of biology and biography instead of just a neurologist.
While in his other books, we get to know about his patients this book tells us about the man himself. His approach to his work, the empathy he nurtured, his shyness, also in the last two interviews where he profoundly talks about dying and old age. If you have not read any of his previous works this is a good book to start with because the first four interviews covered in this book are the interviews he gave before his various book launches and during this he talks about some of his cases he wrote in those books which are truly fascinating such as a man who literally mistook his wife for a height or another case where a guy could see the facial features of other people known as face blindness. The interviews intrigue you to read more of cases like this but also makes you fall in admiration for a man who humanized technology before it dehumanized us.
All said, it was a profound read and certainly convinced me to pick up rest of his elaborate works and know more about the mind-boggling cases. Also Robin Williams played in a movie called Awakenings, which is also based on a Sacks book and you know anything with Williams in it is going to be a gem. Sacks also talks about his Friendship with Robin which is quite fascinating. After reading this book, one thing is sure – you will be felt craving for more of Oliver Sacks and his unusual patients with whom he not only dealt with medicinal procedures but also with creativity and compassion.
July 30, 2020
[Three ⭐️’s because this was too short and the interviews didn’t really allow for the best of him/his expressions. Some of these interviewers were also annoying, and interrupted more than furthering these conversations.]
Any time I read about Oliver Sacks or encounter his own works, I’m filled with a tremendous amount of gratitude and brought to the verge of tears.
Gratitude for the wonderfully full, rich, and complex life he lived, incredible and deeply human-centered body of work he created (and left behind), and the novel and ennobled ways of neurobiology+medicine+scientific exploration and writing for which he gloriously paved the way.
Tears because. My. His loss still hurts. The rejection and pain he suffered (starting from his own mother) hurts. Despite how authentically he paid attention and loved the humans in his life, the fact that it wasn’t reciprocated and he lived a very lonely life deeply hurts.
I remain ever grateful for having discovered him (though his last NY Times OpEd is what brought him into my life), and I continue to celebrate and savor his works, words, and fully-lived life.
“I have to live in the richest, deepest, most productive way I can… I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”
Any time I read about Oliver Sacks or encounter his own works, I’m filled with a tremendous amount of gratitude and brought to the verge of tears.
Gratitude for the wonderfully full, rich, and complex life he lived, incredible and deeply human-centered body of work he created (and left behind), and the novel and ennobled ways of neurobiology+medicine+scientific exploration and writing for which he gloriously paved the way.
Tears because. My. His loss still hurts. The rejection and pain he suffered (starting from his own mother) hurts. Despite how authentically he paid attention and loved the humans in his life, the fact that it wasn’t reciprocated and he lived a very lonely life deeply hurts.
I remain ever grateful for having discovered him (though his last NY Times OpEd is what brought him into my life), and I continue to celebrate and savor his works, words, and fully-lived life.
“I have to live in the richest, deepest, most productive way I can… I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”
January 3, 2024
4/52 for the year and we already have a dud.
Oliver Sacks was a British neurologist and author of 14 books. What is most impressive is how he approaches strange, rare, and debilitating neurological conditions. Instead of a sanitized medical take he truly immerses himself into the lives of the people he studies and tries to understand them through their own words. The empathy practiced by Sacks has always been something I have looked up too, all the while covering incredibly interesting conditions such as blindsight, hallucinations, savants, and much more.
While I recommend reading any of Oliver Sacks' books I would not recommend this book as it is only a collection of short interviews, inclusive of all of the umms, ahhs, and interruptions. The interviewers have interesting questions at times but there is simply not enough time to answer with any depth before going on to whatever topic is next.
One thing this book did remind me of is my love for Sack’s core work and I will be picking up more of that soon.
Oliver Sacks was a British neurologist and author of 14 books. What is most impressive is how he approaches strange, rare, and debilitating neurological conditions. Instead of a sanitized medical take he truly immerses himself into the lives of the people he studies and tries to understand them through their own words. The empathy practiced by Sacks has always been something I have looked up too, all the while covering incredibly interesting conditions such as blindsight, hallucinations, savants, and much more.
While I recommend reading any of Oliver Sacks' books I would not recommend this book as it is only a collection of short interviews, inclusive of all of the umms, ahhs, and interruptions. The interviewers have interesting questions at times but there is simply not enough time to answer with any depth before going on to whatever topic is next.
One thing this book did remind me of is my love for Sack’s core work and I will be picking up more of that soon.
October 24, 2018
As últimas duas entrevistas foram as mais interessantes (na última, especialmente, foi muito descobrir como o Sacks fala com humor, carinho, mas também tristeza, da vida pessoal. E ouvi-lo falar sobre envelhecimento é óptimo para quem está nos vintes, agoniada por não saber o que fazer da vida.
Achei a entrevista com o Charlie Rose muito chata. As perguntas sem profundidade, previsíveis, demasiado foco no filme e na relação do Sacks com o Robin Williams.
No geral, é um livro bom para quem, através das histórias dos seus doentes/clientes/pacientes, passou a gostar do médico. Lê-se muito facilmente. Algumas histórias que ele menciona nas entrevistas são já conhecidas para quem leu os livros (no meu caso, o Hat), e, para mim, parecia que estava a ler uma versão muito menos profunda e, portanto, menos interessante, dessas histórias.
Ficou a vontade de ler a autobiografia dele.
Achei a entrevista com o Charlie Rose muito chata. As perguntas sem profundidade, previsíveis, demasiado foco no filme e na relação do Sacks com o Robin Williams.
No geral, é um livro bom para quem, através das histórias dos seus doentes/clientes/pacientes, passou a gostar do médico. Lê-se muito facilmente. Algumas histórias que ele menciona nas entrevistas são já conhecidas para quem leu os livros (no meu caso, o Hat), e, para mim, parecia que estava a ler uma versão muito menos profunda e, portanto, menos interessante, dessas histórias.
Ficou a vontade de ler a autobiografia dele.
May 12, 2019
One of the most celebrated neurologist, and quoted as "poet laureate of medicine", Oliver Sacks was an amazing person whose contribution in medical sciences and literature are a treasure for the world.
In this book are compiled a select few interviews which Mr. Sacks gave, sometimes during promotion of his book and one just after learning that he has cancer. I've read about Sacks, and his books, I thoroughly enjoyed.
I strongly recommend you to read his books and then read this interview compilation. That will allow you to appreciate this book better.
[You may read this article about Sacks to know who he was and what has he done before diving straight into his amazing books: https://fountainheadsaurabh.wordpress...]
In this book are compiled a select few interviews which Mr. Sacks gave, sometimes during promotion of his book and one just after learning that he has cancer. I've read about Sacks, and his books, I thoroughly enjoyed.
I strongly recommend you to read his books and then read this interview compilation. That will allow you to appreciate this book better.
[You may read this article about Sacks to know who he was and what has he done before diving straight into his amazing books: https://fountainheadsaurabh.wordpress...]
June 1, 2020
Interviews with a Poetic neuroscientist :
Extra ordinary collection of talks, friendly chats.My favourites are the last two interviews where he profoundly talks about dying and old age. If you have not read any of his previous works this is a good book to start with because the first four interviews covered in this book are the interviews he gave before his various book launches and during this he talks about some of his cases he wrote in those books which are truly fascinating such as a man who literally mistook his wife for a hat or another case where a guy could not see the facial features of other people known as face blindness.
try the see the awakenings film based on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir of the same title
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAz-p...
Extra ordinary collection of talks, friendly chats.My favourites are the last two interviews where he profoundly talks about dying and old age. If you have not read any of his previous works this is a good book to start with because the first four interviews covered in this book are the interviews he gave before his various book launches and during this he talks about some of his cases he wrote in those books which are truly fascinating such as a man who literally mistook his wife for a hat or another case where a guy could not see the facial features of other people known as face blindness.
try the see the awakenings film based on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir of the same title
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAz-p...
June 9, 2023
He reminds us of the power of true listening which in the age of fast paced medicine is a dying art.
“We all know that were going to die sometime, that human beings are mortal, that life has a limited span, even if one is a sea anemone. Actually, that's not so if one is a sea anemone. Some sea anemones are three hundred years old and going strong. But when you have something like this, you know its there, that it's not completely removed. And I think it's given me a paradoxical feeling of how precious life is, and how precious time is. And not to waste it.”
“We all know that were going to die sometime, that human beings are mortal, that life has a limited span, even if one is a sea anemone. Actually, that's not so if one is a sea anemone. Some sea anemones are three hundred years old and going strong. But when you have something like this, you know its there, that it's not completely removed. And I think it's given me a paradoxical feeling of how precious life is, and how precious time is. And not to waste it.”
May 3, 2022
Reading these incredibly personal words from one of my favorite authors of all time right before he died felt like an important punch to the gut. I've devoured his books and already found so much wonder in his storytelling and the way he looked at science, medicine, people, and the world. It is easy to imagine our heroes, and it both breaks our hearts and swells our hearts to see like us they are human too.
June 15, 2024
Just as the title says, this is a collection of interviews with Oliver Sacks. I have been a fan of his books for years, and it was fascinating to read something of the man behind that prodigious brain, along with some discussion of his fascinating patients. His curiosity and desire to understand the person with the affliction, not just the disease, has always marked him as a truly great physician.
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January 13, 2020It seems unfair to grade this book which is a verbatim transcription of interviews Sacks gave. While the content is interesting the verbatim transcription is irritating as every word or sound is transcribed which does nothing for the flow. I'd recommend reading Sacks's actual books which are excellent and eye-opening and read this when you've read his complete works.
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