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yevolem 's review for:
An Anthropologist on Mars
by Oliver Sacks
Here within is presented seven primary individuals, six of which are men, though many others are mentioned in passing. Their stories are written in a way that's between a case study and narrative. Their neurological differences are as follows: a man who has achromatopsia, achromatic vision; a man for whom a tumor destroyed much of his brain; a surgeon with Tourette's; a man who gains the ability to see in his fifties; a guy who is obsessed with and forced to ruminate on and depict his childhood town in perfect detail; an artistic autistic savant of moderate functioning; and the woman who is probably still the most well-known spokesperson for autism, Temple Grandin.
As the author, Oliver Sacks, was a neurologist, all of these have to do with atypical brain function. The greatest commonality among them is anosognosia, which is the lack of insight into their own dysfunction, and in many cases rejecting or being indifferent to their dysfunction. Another commonality is that Sacks consistently refers to the various conditions as being similar to encephalitis.
The cases are presented in a way that's both naturalistic and detached, so that they're mostly about the life of the person being described and how their differences affect their lives rather than being mostly about the dysfunction itself. Sometimes he injects his own personal opinions or a brief anecdote about himself, but he mostly stays out of the way. The peculiarities of his own life are quite interesting as well and I'll eventually read his autobiography. As the cases are mostly about their lives, this shouldn't be read for the purpose of in-depth research of anything presented, but rather as one-off real world manifestations of theoretical constructs.
I'd sum it up as "Well, that's interesting", but not much more than that.
3.5/5
As the author, Oliver Sacks, was a neurologist, all of these have to do with atypical brain function. The greatest commonality among them is anosognosia, which is the lack of insight into their own dysfunction, and in many cases rejecting or being indifferent to their dysfunction. Another commonality is that Sacks consistently refers to the various conditions as being similar to encephalitis.
The cases are presented in a way that's both naturalistic and detached, so that they're mostly about the life of the person being described and how their differences affect their lives rather than being mostly about the dysfunction itself. Sometimes he injects his own personal opinions or a brief anecdote about himself, but he mostly stays out of the way. The peculiarities of his own life are quite interesting as well and I'll eventually read his autobiography. As the cases are mostly about their lives, this shouldn't be read for the purpose of in-depth research of anything presented, but rather as one-off real world manifestations of theoretical constructs.
I'd sum it up as "Well, that's interesting", but not much more than that.
3.5/5