Product Description

‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is populated by a cast as strange as that of the most fantastic fiction. The subject of this strange and wonderful book is what happens when things go wrong with parts of the brain most of us don’t know exist . . . Dr Sacks shows the awesome powers of our mind and just how delicately balanced they have to be’ Sunday Times

‘Who is this book for? Who is it not for? It is for everybody who has felt from time to time that certain twinge of self-identity and sensed how easily, at any moment, one might lose it’ The Times

‘This is, in the best sense, a serious book. It is, indeed, a wonderful book, by which I mean not only that it is excellent (which it is) but also that it is full of wonder, wonders and wondering. He brings to these often unhappy people understanding, sympathy and respect. Sacks is always learning from his patients, marvelling at them, widening his own understanding and ours’ Punch

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #923 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author

Oliver Sacks was educated in London, Oxford, California and New York. He is a professor of clinical neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is the author of many books, including Musicophilia and Awakenings.

Customer Reviews

Well written, accessible and thought-provoking
This book is written in a beautifully accessible and entertaining style; it is also moving, funny and tragic in equal measures.

Consisting mainly of short stories relating patient 'oddities' that the author has treated in his long career as a neurologist it manages to come across as anything but a list of dry case histories. The inclusion of the emotions of the patient as they deal with their difficulties and the reactions of the author keep this book human rather than academic.

Although this is a recommended book for undergraduate students of various disciplines, it should not be discounted as a mere informative reader because of that. Anyone interested in stories of the human condition or those with a fascination/awe of the human brain will find this intriguing, engaging and interesting.

wonderful
This is a truly brilliant book, and one of the main inspirations which caused me to enter medicine in the first place. I agree with the Welsh reviewer that the amount of technical jargon in the book might frustrate a non-medic, but remember, these are genuine neurological patients being discussed in medical terms that would be of interest to both the specialist and general reader - the reason that the book is so universally readable is because of Sacks' wonderful empathy and determination (partly inherited from the great Russian neuroscientist Alexander Luria) that patients should be managed and documented as people first and cases second - a view which is sadly far from universal among neurologists. For those interested by this book, the work of V.S. Ramachandran addresses many similar issues (including bizarre stories to tell your mates in the pub!)

short stories on mental anomalies
the man who mistook his wife for a hat is a collection of short stories, of patients of the physician Oliver Sachs. he tells many stories and the title is one. there are others such as the woman who kept falling asleep, the woman who had a coma and came out speaking perfect french. all very odd yet believable stories. and all true very good for the reader who needs to be able to put the book down occasionally. but likes to be challenged intellectually. there is enough medical detail there to keep the knowledgable interested, but not enough to make you fall asleep. and it won't give you nightmares....