An Analysis of Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales

by Dario Krpan, Alexander O'Connor

In The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, neurologist Oliver Sacks looked at the cutting-edge work taking place in his field, and decided that much of it was not fit for purpose. Sacks found it hard to understand why most doctors adopted a mechanical and impersonal approach to their patients, and opened his mind to new ways to treat people with neurological disorders. He explored the question of deciding what such new ways might be by deploying his formidable creative thinking skills. Sacks felt the issues at the heart of patient care needed redefining, because the way they were being dealt with hurt not only patients, but practitioners too. They limited a physician’s capacity to understand and then treat a patient’s condition. To highlight the issue, Sacks wrote the stories of 24 patients and their neurological clinical conditions. In the process, he rebelled against traditional methodology by focusing on his patients’ subjective experiences. Sacks did not only write about his patients in original ways – he attempt to come up with creative ways of treating them as well. At root, his method was to try to help each person individually, with the core aim of finding meaning and a sense of identity despite, or even thanks to, the patients’ condition. Sacks thus redefined the issue of neurological work in a new way, and his ideas were so influential that they heralded the arrival of a broader movement – narrative medicine – that placed stronger emphasis on listening to and incorporating patients’ experiences and insights into their care.

Genres: Audiobook, Psychology, Nonfiction

96 pages, Paperback

Published July 15, 2017

Reviews

[Fly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read (listened to) this immediately after finishing Oliver Sacks' book. It gave a fair synopsis of the book as well as a bit of additional information about Dr. Sacks and his contributions to the field, but didn't do much in the way of analyzing the cases. I think this is mainly for people who don't want to read the book, rather than people who have read it and want additional insight. Also, the narrator was so very, very annoying. She spoke in an "I'm quoting" voice every time she quoted something and it was just horrible and cringeworthy. If you've already read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales, I would pass on this and read the wikipedia page on Oliver Sacks instead, and from there decide if you want to go on to read his autobiography since this book didn't really add too much.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book (audio version) was labeled as the real thing in the library. what a disappoimtment.

this one is for lazy high school or medical students who don’t want to read the book but are required to.
save your time, skip this cliffnotesy thing, and read the real thing

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

NOT the actual book, this is just somebody else writing their opinions about the actual book. Very hard to tell from the cover, though.

[Katherine Tirado-Ryen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid analysis of how Oliver Sacks’s seminal work “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” revolutionized neurology as well as the impact of evidence-based medicine in the 30+ years since its initial publication in 1985.

[Dayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is an analysis of Oliver Sacks’ book, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for His Hat.” I wanted to read the book, but the library only had the analysis.

Having seen advertisements of a play by the same name, “The Man Who Mistook…” I thought I was about to read a 50’s-style comedy—akin to “The 7-year Itch.” However it turns out that Sacks is a neurologist and the book represents 15 patients, who had neurological differences from the norm.

The analysis did point out that Sacks’’ Analysis of his patients was unique, in so much as it was a Romantic Analysis—where the patient’s life story is mixed with the neurological manifestation. At that time Sacks’ work was considered original.

[Anthony DeFalco · Rating 5 out of 5]

I initially charged this book out by mistake from our library. I was looking for the Oliver Sacks book the Man who Mistook His Wife for His Hat. However, once I started reading it I really found it worthwhile. I had very little knowledge of Oliver Sacks' theories and I found the book, although it's only about 100 pages, worthwhile. It gives you a good overview and insight, and also contains good references. If you are interested in Oliver Sacks his ideas it's a quick read and probably worthwhile. I found it worth the time and would recommend it to someone who wants to know more about Oliver Sacks and his views on human behavior.

[Shawna Gonzales · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t realize this was a summary of the book until I was halfway through. I definitely don’t like the summary of a book as much as the content of an actual book. It felt like the scraps of the book more than the substance of it. The summary is kind of a waste because now I still want to read the book. Lol.

[Dichotomy Girl · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was labeled as the audiobook of the actual thing, not an analysis. I waited 5 months with this on hold at the library. So disappointing.

[Elizabeth Glowacz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed because the cover only has the "An analysis" part really small and I didn't realize I wasn't reading the actual book until I was basically finished with it.

[Kmoney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accidentally bought

[Aaron Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

…the work heralded a broader movement— narrative medicine—that placed stronger emphasis on listening to and incorporating patients' experiences and insights in their care.