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mariefleurie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
sabrinaslivingliterature's review against another edition
5.0
"The last book he [Oliver Sacks] would oversee" I am fortunate enough that this is only the 2nd book by Oliver Sacks that I have read and I still have many more books of his that I can enjoy! By no means is this the last time I will read this book, his broad interest and grasp of various scientific concepts is fascinating. In this book you look at the Neurologist Freud, evolution, botany, chemistry and so much more. The sheer joy that comes from this book makes it an amazing read and a gripping non-fiction book on a journey to what makes us human.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
A short collection of previously published essays that make us feel the loss of a person like Oliver Sacks very keenly. He loved science and scientific advances in all fields, not just his chosen profession of neuroscience. The collection is a bit too eclectic to be was wonderful as something like The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat. The essays on Darwin aren’t that interesting but for the essays that focus more particularly on neuroscience and the brain, especially “Scotoma: Forgetting and Neglect in Science,” his love and passion shine through.
maxstone98's review against another edition
3.0
Pale shadow of his earlier work. Writing feels disconnected and many topics feel shallow-ly pursued. I’m a big fan of the author but this work is a disappointment.
From the forward: “Two weeks before his death in August 2015, Oliver Sacks outlined the contents of The River of Consciousness, the last book he would oversee, and charged the three of us with arranging for its publication.”
That’s what it reads like, a book that got assembled after his death.
From the forward: “Two weeks before his death in August 2015, Oliver Sacks outlined the contents of The River of Consciousness, the last book he would oversee, and charged the three of us with arranging for its publication.”
That’s what it reads like, a book that got assembled after his death.
sausome's review against another edition
4.0
Collection of thoughtful essays about various psychological, neurological, and general biological phenomenon. This collection is a bit of an overview of all Sacks has come to think about and learn, scientifically, in his life of scientific scholarly pursuits.
From the essay, "Speed":
P. 41 - "Sometimes when one is falling asleep, there may be a massive, involuntary jerk (a 'myoclonic' jerk) of the body. Though such jerks are generated by primitive parts of the brain stem (they are, so to speak, brain-stem reflexes) and as such are without any intrinsic meaning or motive, they may be given meaning and connect, turned into acts, by an instantly improvised dream."
From the essay, "Sentience: The Mental Lives of Plants and Worms":
P. 73 - "He (Jennings) felt that we humans are reluctant to attribute any qualities of mind to protozoa because they are so small: 'The writer is thoroughly convinced, after long study, of the behavior of this organism, that if Amoeba were a large animal, so as to come within the everyday experience of human beings, its behavior would at once call forth the attribution to it of states of pleasure and pain, of hunger, desire, and the like, on precisely the same basis we attribute these things to the dog.' Jennings' vision of a highly sensitive, dog-sized Amoeba is almost cartoonishly opposite of Descartes's notion of dogs as so devoid of feelings that one could vivisect them without compunction, taking their cries as purely 'reflex' reactions of a quasi-mechanical kind."
P. 75 - "It has even been shown, in a highly social species of paper wasp, they individuals can learn and recognize the faces of other wasps. Such face learning has hitherto been described only in mammals; it is fascinating they a cognitive power so specific can be present in insects as well."
From the essay, "Mishearings":
P. 125 - "Mishearings are not hallucinations, but like hallucinations they utilize the usual pathways of perception and pose as reality - it does not occur to one to question them."
From the essay, "A General Feeling of Disorder":
P. 152 - "Though there are many (one is tempted to say, innumerable) possible presentations of common migraine - I describe nearly a hundred such in my book - it's commonest harbinger may be just an indefinable but undeniable feeling of something amiss. This is exactly what Emil du Bois-Reymond emphasized when, in 1860, he described his own attacks of migraine. 'I wake,' he writes, "with a general feeling of disorder.'"
From the essay, "Speed":
P. 41 - "Sometimes when one is falling asleep, there may be a massive, involuntary jerk (a 'myoclonic' jerk) of the body. Though such jerks are generated by primitive parts of the brain stem (they are, so to speak, brain-stem reflexes) and as such are without any intrinsic meaning or motive, they may be given meaning and connect, turned into acts, by an instantly improvised dream."
From the essay, "Sentience: The Mental Lives of Plants and Worms":
P. 73 - "He (Jennings) felt that we humans are reluctant to attribute any qualities of mind to protozoa because they are so small: 'The writer is thoroughly convinced, after long study, of the behavior of this organism, that if Amoeba were a large animal, so as to come within the everyday experience of human beings, its behavior would at once call forth the attribution to it of states of pleasure and pain, of hunger, desire, and the like, on precisely the same basis we attribute these things to the dog.' Jennings' vision of a highly sensitive, dog-sized Amoeba is almost cartoonishly opposite of Descartes's notion of dogs as so devoid of feelings that one could vivisect them without compunction, taking their cries as purely 'reflex' reactions of a quasi-mechanical kind."
P. 75 - "It has even been shown, in a highly social species of paper wasp, they individuals can learn and recognize the faces of other wasps. Such face learning has hitherto been described only in mammals; it is fascinating they a cognitive power so specific can be present in insects as well."
From the essay, "Mishearings":
P. 125 - "Mishearings are not hallucinations, but like hallucinations they utilize the usual pathways of perception and pose as reality - it does not occur to one to question them."
From the essay, "A General Feeling of Disorder":
P. 152 - "Though there are many (one is tempted to say, innumerable) possible presentations of common migraine - I describe nearly a hundred such in my book - it's commonest harbinger may be just an indefinable but undeniable feeling of something amiss. This is exactly what Emil du Bois-Reymond emphasized when, in 1860, he described his own attacks of migraine. 'I wake,' he writes, "with a general feeling of disorder.'"
esessa's review against another edition
5.0
Lovely collection of essays by the late Oliver Sacks. Some were stronger than others, and they cover a large number of topics, from Darwin and botany to the nature of consciousness and various failings of the body, including memory, hearing, and general sense of self. Many essays retrace or retouch on Sacks' previously oft-visited territory; there are quite a few references, especially in the later pieces, to his earlier work in [b:Migraine|66720|Migraine|Oliver Sacks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386924208s/66720.jpg|2085422], [b:Awakenings|14456|Awakenings|Oliver Sacks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388274053s/14456.jpg|2755549], and [b:The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales|63697|The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales|Oliver Sacks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1447047702s/63697.jpg|882844]. I have to admit that I find it less than compelling when he retreads his old writings, but usually the insights are new, and that was the case here. But the "new" material (e.g., Darwin and botany) was definitely the best.
milandeep's review against another edition
3.0
The River of Consciousness has a bunch of posthumous essays by the neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks. These essays were a mixed bag for me and the title was misleading. As a couple of other reviews have mentioned that it seems a ghost-writer was used to finish this book after the death of the author. "The Fallibility of Memory" was my favorite essay of the lot which tells how our memories keep changing with time and how sometimes other people memories become a part of our own memory. The essays on Darwin and Freud were also interesting. I was hoping to read more about the consciousness but was disappointed on that part. Nevertheless, Dr. Sacks draws his writings from the experiences with his patients, mixes them with science and history to provide thoughtful essays.