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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
I really admire Mr. Sacks' work and I loved most of the short stories in this book.
I only have one problem with it and that is the short story Kuru.
In Kuru, Sacks elaborates on CJD and, in this context, D. Carleton Gajdusek's groundbreaking work discovering the origin and dissemination of prion diseases.
Mr. Sacks called Gajdusek "a brilliant young American physician and ethologist" and explained his (undeniably) amazing findings without ever mentioning that he was also a convicted child molester.
Since the story appeared first in 1997, the same year Gajdusek pleaded guilty and was convicted, I don't see how Mr. Sacks / the publishers couldn't have written a footnote stating that even though Mr. Gajdusek was a great scientist, he was also a horrendous human being.
I only have one problem with it and that is the short story Kuru.
In Kuru, Sacks elaborates on CJD and, in this context, D. Carleton Gajdusek's groundbreaking work discovering the origin and dissemination of prion diseases.
Mr. Sacks called Gajdusek "a brilliant young American physician and ethologist" and explained his (undeniably) amazing findings without ever mentioning that he was also a convicted child molester.
Since the story appeared first in 1997, the same year Gajdusek pleaded guilty and was convicted, I don't see how Mr. Sacks / the publishers couldn't have written a footnote stating that even though Mr. Gajdusek was a great scientist, he was also a horrendous human being.
informative
reflective
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Oliver Sacks has been described as a the Shakespeare of science. I vehemently disagree with this description. Shakespeare was irreverent, sometimes even cruel. Sacks is the opposite. He is reverent of all things and kind to all people.
The stories in this book will make you see the world a little differently as Sacks holds reverence for people in all their diversity and uniqueness. As always, his delight with the minutiae of life is infectious. His short little essay on Ginkgo Bilbao trees sent me down a rabbit hole of research on this fascinating tree. His essays about his friendships with people with Tourette's describe what life is like for people with this affliction, but he also manages to see beauty and freedom in tics that I never considered before. He has meditations on asylums that will make you reconsider not only your own position, but the government policies we have enacted over the last 40 years that took people out of homes and left them on the streets. He will help you re-think what we know about providing "Care" to people suffering from mental illness.
This book was a bittersweet read knowing that Sacks has passed away. Some of the last essays include this thoughts on dying and these were heartbreaking to read, not because he was sad or self pitying, but because I know we will run out of new essays from wonderful man. However these essays were filled with his optimism and concern for the future of humanity.
A great series of essays. Like all Sacks books it is highly recommended.
The stories in this book will make you see the world a little differently as Sacks holds reverence for people in all their diversity and uniqueness. As always, his delight with the minutiae of life is infectious. His short little essay on Ginkgo Bilbao trees sent me down a rabbit hole of research on this fascinating tree. His essays about his friendships with people with Tourette's describe what life is like for people with this affliction, but he also manages to see beauty and freedom in tics that I never considered before. He has meditations on asylums that will make you reconsider not only your own position, but the government policies we have enacted over the last 40 years that took people out of homes and left them on the streets. He will help you re-think what we know about providing "Care" to people suffering from mental illness.
This book was a bittersweet read knowing that Sacks has passed away. Some of the last essays include this thoughts on dying and these were heartbreaking to read, not because he was sad or self pitying, but because I know we will run out of new essays from wonderful man. However these essays were filled with his optimism and concern for the future of humanity.
A great series of essays. Like all Sacks books it is highly recommended.
emotional
informative
reflective
This book is easy to read , compelling and relatable in places. However, it is just a bunch of disconnected thoughts and stories, with not much connecting them. It is also in places the rumbles of an old man. So overall, meh
Short, easy, touching essays. I bought this because of his short essay on gardens that was published online as an excerpt but stayed for the stories about his patients and essays about things like mental asylums, old scientists, ferns, etc. Worth a read, worth reading again as well.
Many of these stories had not been previously published, some written toward the end of his life. Wonderful reading.