The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales

• An Anthropologist on Mars
• Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
• Awakenings
• A Leg to Stand On
• Migraine

It's not really a good book to read before bed as some of these people have problems that could make one want to stay up and talk about it with someone else.

This book deals with patients who are suffering from various forms of diseases which impact their living and thinking selves so dramatically that the core of the book seems to be coming to terms with what these states of mind could mean. There's the man who's lost all the intuition related to vision - he can recognise abstract shapes but not faces or commonplace objects. There's the man suffering from Tourette's who's become so used to the disease's influence on his personality that the downer drugs have given him a loss of identity. There's the man who has absolutely no short term memory and is thus forced into a farcical and tragical string of endless flights of fance to make things fit into his worldview.

The book is divided into 4 sections - the first dealing with a loss of some part of cognition, the second with some excesses of cognition (and yes this may seem odd but read the essays!), the third with visions in patients and the fourth with the "simple" - people with a low IQ.

Sacks is very interested in imagining what it must be like to live like a certain patient - although at times it's quite impossible. It is here that his humanity and empathy comes through. The book is critical of the impersonal and clinical nature of traditional neurology - Sacks is much more human-oriented.

The uncertainty of the various selves paraded in the book leads him to explore many philosophical aspects of what a "self" is and what parts are essential. The surprising (to people new to this area) thing is that in so many of the patients with severe problems (complete amnesia, an IQ of 60, autism) - the external characteristics of the mind are shattered but there remains somewhat of an introspective, emotional, conscious self. It is in highlighting this that the book is at it's most human.

This is a must read as it will enhance your knowledge of some of the more "self"-debilitating illnesses, challenge your own sense of self and humanity and in many occasions will move you to an extent that few scientific books do. And through it all will be clear the magical, still-mystical-despite-scientific-advances and elusive essence of humanity that gives life wonder.

Also, the book is laid out in vignettes so that just at the point one might find themselves getting bored, he moves on to a new neurological dysfunction. It sounds terrible to say, but in a way, this book is really just a very sophisticated freak-show. But Sacks is no P.T. Barnum. Sacks portrays these anecdotes with great humanity. His thoughts on the subjects of these stories, the disorders and their sufferers, border on the spiritual in magnitude. He explores these issues with such a great awe and respect for the mysteries of physical life, that it feels as if one is walking along with him as tour guide on a journey through the stars.

Just a terrific read and a book that feels great to have on your shelf.

"The patient's essential being is very relevant in the higher reaches of neurology, and in psychology; for here the patient's personhood is essentially involved, and the study of disease and the identity cannot be disjoined. Such disorders, and their depiction and study, indeed entail a new discipline, which we may call the 'neurology of identity', for it deals with the neural foundations of the self, the age-old problem of mind and brain.' (X)

This book is a collection of twenty-four cases, clinical tales about people who, in some cases, have been struck with terrible brain related illnesses during the prime of their lives. The physical, emotional and very foundations of how they function and view the world, has been drastically altered. In the case of 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat', Dr. P., a musician of distinction, teacher and accomplished painter, developed a type of visual agnosia or prosopagnosia, where he could not recognize faces and came to see things, people and objects as something else. His entire perceptions of the world had totally changed. One aspect of this particular story that was interesting was Dr. P's paintings, which Sacks observed hanging on the wall of his home. In the beginning the paintings depicted a 'realist' style, almost mirror representations; as the years went by, each painting became more impressionistic, ending in the most recent work being entirely abstract. Sacks made a comment about this fact to the Dr.'s wife, who believed that his artistic style simply matured over the years. However Sacks saw the paintings as representing the progressive nature of the man's condition. I found this case to be at once bizarre, interesting and sad.

Most if not all of the cases in this book are bizarre, interesting and sad, but Dr. Sacks conveys a deep humanity, a scientific concern and a real hope that the profession will find more effective ways in dealing with the brain. He believes the profession should re-think their approaches; perhaps ask different questions, however, most importantly, not forget that, as physicians, they're not dealing with just 'clinical subjects', but human beings with identity. In other words, to truly understand the brain/ mind relation, the essential being, science and the humanities must join forces. One can see from this wonderful book, that Oliver Sacks has already attempted to do just this, with varying degrees of success.

This is a book that drastically changed my views on a lot of things, not least the utter vastness of the mind, and how easily we can lose what we take for granted everyday.

• Subjects > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling
• Subjects > Health, Mind & Body
• Subjects > Medicine > Internal Medicine > Neurology
• Subjects > Medicine > Internal Medicine
• Subjects > Professional & Technical > Medical > Medicine > Internal Medicine > Neurology
• Subjects > Science > Medicine > Internal Medicine > Neurology
• Subjects > Science > Medicine > Internal Medicine
• Subjects > Literature & Fiction > General

• Amazon.ca : The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales