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mirandadarrow 's review for:
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
by Oliver Sacks
The case studies were fascinating, but the clinical explanations were pretentious and boring. I listened to this in audiobook, and that was the wrong format, as I couldn't skip ahead past the endless droning of the author about the concepts, other neurologists, studies, etc. I was interested in the various conditions and the adaptations of the people who had them, but not that fascinated by the droning on explanations.
Because I have a son with autism, I was most interested in hearing about the woman who lost her entire sense of proprioception (the sense of your body in space - I might have spelled that wrong, but it's close), as my son has serious issues with that too. He doesn't need to look at his legs to be able to walk, but he certainly stomps all the time just to feel his steps, and has no idea that he is stomping, crashing into walls and people all the time, etc.
I also was interested in the cases of both the "lost mariner" who has no new memories after 1945 (this was written in the 1980s), as that seemed straight out of "50 First Dates" or "Momento" only worse, as he couldn't keep memories from a single hour, let alone a whole day. Also, "witty, ticky, Ray" was an interesting look at people with Tourette's syndrome.
It was extremely tough to read the entire final (fourth) section about people with mental deficiencies, as the terminology and attitudes were so dated, patronizing, and frankly insulting. This book was educational, and worth the read for me. But it was work to make it through this book.
Because I have a son with autism, I was most interested in hearing about the woman who lost her entire sense of proprioception (the sense of your body in space - I might have spelled that wrong, but it's close), as my son has serious issues with that too. He doesn't need to look at his legs to be able to walk, but he certainly stomps all the time just to feel his steps, and has no idea that he is stomping, crashing into walls and people all the time, etc.
I also was interested in the cases of both the "lost mariner" who has no new memories after 1945 (this was written in the 1980s), as that seemed straight out of "50 First Dates" or "Momento" only worse, as he couldn't keep memories from a single hour, let alone a whole day. Also, "witty, ticky, Ray" was an interesting look at people with Tourette's syndrome.
It was extremely tough to read the entire final (fourth) section about people with mental deficiencies, as the terminology and attitudes were so dated, patronizing, and frankly insulting. This book was educational, and worth the read for me. But it was work to make it through this book.