In his most beloved and extraordinary book, Dr. Sacks recounts the case histories of patients inhabiting the compelling world of neurological disorders. Featuring a preface never before included. Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with perceptual and intellectual disorders: 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; whose limbs seem alien to them; who lack some skills yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. In Dr. Sacks's splendid and sympathetic telling, his patients are deeply human, and his tales are studies of struggles against incredible adversity. A great healer, Sacks never loses sight of medicine's ultimate responsibility: "the suffering, afflicted, fighting human subject." “Written with great charm…. Hat’s [original] preface included powerful arguments for why case histories are every bit as medically important as studies…. This restoration of the person to the centre was especially, and obviously, necessary for neurology, psychology and psychiatry.” —Norman Doidge, The Globe and Mail Dr. Oliver Sacks, referred by the New York Times as "the poet laureate of medicine", spent more than fifty years working as a neurologist and writing books about the neurological predicaments and conditions of his patients, including Musicophilia, A Leg to Stand On, and Awakenings. Over the years, he received many awards, including honors from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal College of Physicians. His memoir, On the Move, was published shortly before his death in August 2015. |
