The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales
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List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $10.20
Your Save: $ 4.80 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Touchstone
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.8
EAN: 9780684853949
ISBN: 0684853949
Label: Touchstone
Manufacturer: Touchstone
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: 1998-04-02
Publisher: Touchstone
Studio: Touchstone
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Editorial Reviews:
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In his most extraordinary book, "one of the great clinical writers of the 20th century" (The New York Times) recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. If inconceivably strange, these brilliant tales remain, in Dr. Sacks's splendid and sympathetic telling, deeply human. They are studies of life struggling against incredible adversity, and they enable us to enter the world of the neurologically impaired, to imagine with our hearts what it must be to live and feel as they do. A great healer, Sacks never loses sight of medicine's ultimate responsibility: "the suffering, afflicted, fighting human subject."
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: The Reader Who mistook Dr. Sacks as a Patient.
Comment: This book is written in an unusual prose; one that is off-putting in the very beginning, but as the author establishes his pace, the writing improves drastically; as does the story line.
Actually, the author is a medical doctor, but he spends microseconds of time defining what he does. The reader is flung into stories of patients and at times, the good doctor uses such demeaning terminology to describe the developmentally disabled. It is cruel, and I mean to tell you that Dr. Sacks should never be cruel in order to be kind.
The stories are quite facinating and the one I liked most was "WItty Ticcy Ray" in the description of Tourette's Syndrome. Dr. Sacks teaches us that there is so much more to know about mental disorders; most of us only understand in the most basic vantage point. In any case, I enjoyed the book; it was a bit jagged in style, but I think I will blame it on the period in which it was written; first copyright being 1970.
I think any person would learn a great deal from reading this thin little volume; good job for Dr. Sacks who I hope to read more from in the near future.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Medically Sound, Literally Vivid & Educationally Positive
Comment: Dr. Sacks is an adept reporter, a consummate observer and sensitive
human being; in addition to being a good physician. The book describes
many interesting syndromes, neurological, that tax ones credulity
except for the fact that humans are "suffering" these illnesses. It is
through expositions such as these documented by Dr. Saxks that one can
become appreciative and understanding of the suffering and plight of
individuals experiencing the vissisitudes of physical and mental
aberrations. The seemingly "bizarre" cases described in the volume
present significant insight into the function and structure of what
we call "the mind." FACS
Customer Rating:
Summary: That's Horrible! (not the book, the book is good)
Comment: I read this book quite awhile ago, so I can't be too detailed right now. I'll add to and edit this review later, but for now, I just remember it spent about six months on my nightstand. That's impressive. - Jane
Customer Rating:
Summary: At times dry, but very interesting overall
Comment: This is a great read. A few portions got a bit dense, but the book really changed the way I think about those who have the neurological abnormalities described by Sacks. The best part is the length of each story; even if you have a limited amount of time you can read an entire case study.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What the maladaptive can teach us
Comment: As a graduate student in the field of biology and psychology, I found this to be the perfect blend of both. Although a collection of different case studies in the field of neuropsychology, anyone with even a slight interest in the understanding of the human brain will enjoy this book. Despite a large amount of clinical and science jargon, the book is easy to comprehend. This is a simple book with a straightforward approach of showing normal people what it could be like if they ever had a brain disorder. Dr. Sacks has a great ability in transforming his clinical experiences into something that can be appreciated by the non-clinical individual. He opens up a world that the majority of society would hope to never have to witness in their lives; he is a gatekeeper into a parallel universe. All of these patients physically live in our world but with each different disorder there is another world that can barely be imagined. He is able to capture the "human essence" in every patient even though if we were to see the same patients in a ward or on the street we would never think of them as being similar to you or me. This book is a monument to clinical literature; it is able to emotionally move us and question the happiness we have in our lives. The beauty of Dr. Sacks literature, is that he makes us value and appreciate the small and everyday things in our life.
The book is split up into four sections; each is a different realm of disorders: losses, excesses, transports, and the world of the simple. In the first section of the book, `Losses', Sacks explores deficits, the subject that most think of when told that someone they know has a disorder. In deficits, individuals lose the ability of certain cognitive tasks that we take for granted. Sacks investigates several types of losses; the most prominent of which are agnosias, aphasias, apraxias, and of course amnesia. Each loss affects the individual differently; sometimes they are able to cope and other times the experience is pure horror. The second section of the book addresses excesses. The patients in this section are the "hypers" and generally are in some sort of excited stage. Although alert and on point closer observation finds that it is not a state in which they wish to be . It takes a lot out of a patient to always be "on the go." The third section deals with transports, dreamy states that can occur. These individuals are always reminiscing or remembering a moment in their lives; sometimes it is an unwanted image, sometimes a pleasant memory. For some it has become a blessing but for others a curse. The fourth section identifies the world of the simple, an appropriate title because the patients found in this section all have IQs below sixty. By contemporary standards of society, that would make these individuals mentally retarded. However, Sacks actually learns from each of these patients to look beyond the struggles and obstacles they face. They teach him that the small pleasures of life make one happy such as music, numbers, drawing; and other forms of expression. Sacks learns that not everyone needs to communicate through words.
The structure of this book is quite straightforward; Sacks tells his stories of interesting clinical tales in the field of neuropsychology and writes them in a book that can be read by the non-clinical individuals. I enjoy the set up of each section because he introduces each section explaining the general problem. Each chapter is the story of a patient and how he overcame his disability or what happened to the patient after his meeting with Dr.Sacks.
This book is a great example of the medical community trying to reach out to the everyday reader. Although each actual diagnosis may be complicated for a non-medical reader to understand, each underlying problem is quite easy to comprehend when broken down. That is why Sacks is such a great writer; he gives both sides of the story and he gives the actual medical problem. Then he goes back and explains what the disorder actually disrupts in the patient's brain. He is able to show what everyday functions are lost and why the problem is a nuisance to the individual. I am impressed that Sacks was able to group the disorders in the way that he did. Not only does this book explain the biology behind the problem, but he even goes into the methodology that he uses to diagnosis his patients. Although, he may have the best technology and pharmaceuticals at his beck and call, by simply listening to his patients and understanding their problem he is actually better suited in helping them.
The only thing that I did not like was that he would reference another patient from one of his other books that has a similar disorder. This was a bit confusing because sometimes I would not realize which patient he was talking about. I liked the proportion of the stories to each section. It showed which disorders are more prominent and common within neurological disorders.
I preferred the stories in which Sacks got to really know and understand his patient. There were some stories that were quite short where it mostly just gave a diagnosis and then the patient was never heard of again. I understand that Sacks wanted to give the reader a broad spectrum of different neurological disorders. However, the more personal stories were more heartfelt and showed the pain and frustration of the patient living with the problem.
Also, it would have been more interesting for the reader if Sacks had follow-up appointments with the patients that we knew so well. As a neurologist he had no obligation to do so after the primary diagnosis. But it would be fascinating to see how these individuals are able to live their lives, especially in the case of patients whose lives were greatly affected. I wish that Sacks would have added more stories to the book overall, but that would have been too many stories to compile. In the greater scheme of things there is almost nothing for me to change. This book has fueled my passion for neuropsychology even more. I am grateful for a physician from my projected field of study to write such a wonderful book.
Overall this has been one of the best non-fiction case study books that I have ever read. It is not a complicated read. On the other hand, Sacks purposely tries to write it in such a way that the majority of individuals can just pick it up and read it. Sacks is able to teach his readers the value of everyday cognitive processes. Things that we take for granted such as remembering our family or being able to do things independently are lost for some of these patients. He is able to show us the life struggle that all of his patients must suffer. Sometimes they want to give up but for some reason they keep treading. The book illustrates the emotion and hardship of living in a world that one cannot escape. Many of the patients feel trapped and taken over by their disorders. But with faith and the help of modern medicine many of these patients are able to overcome the disorder and lead a fairly normal life. This is a book of the trials of the human spirit and the amazing power of the brain.
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the brain and how the mind works or for individuals who are studying in the field of neuroscience or psychology. This is a great find. Although some of the reading may be a bit too clinical or scientific, but the main concept is still easy to obtain; or if you just want an emotional rollercoaster, you should definitely pick up this book.
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