Sacks, Oliver (Wolf)

(1933– ) neurologist, writer; born in London, England. Educated at Oxford, he came to the U.S.A. in 1960, and after completing advanced studies at the University of California: Los Angeles (1960–65), he joined the neurology faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Bronx, N.Y.) (1965), and also became a consultant neurologist at various New York hospitals. Even in his first book, Migraine: Evolution of a Common Disorder (1970; expanded edition 1985), he was laying forth his unorthodox approach of stressing links between mental/emotional states and physical/bodily afflictions—essentially a holistic approach. Meanwhile, in the late 1960s he had worked in a New York hospital where he encountered some 80 people suffering from a "sleeping sickness" that had spread around the world about 1916 to 1920; he experimented by giving some of them the drug L-DOPA and obtained what at first seemed to be amazing results (for after "awakening," most soon regressed); he described this experience in Awakenings (1973), a book that inspired the Harold Pinter play, A Kind of Alaska, and the movie, Awakenings (1992). Controversial in his profession for some of his theories, he also published articles on his "cases" in nonprofessional magazines, then collected them in such books as The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales (1985). His book, A Leg to Stand On (1984), went even further in his tendency to link the professional and personal, basing his findings on an accident that temporarily cost him the use of a leg, and thereby promoting his notion of the unity of the complex interactions of body, mind, and behavior.

References in periodicals archive

The late Oliver Sacks, M.D., noted neurologist and best-selling author of "Musicophilia," said people with memory loss who listen to nostalgic songs can remember times in their lives when they first heard the music.

How music enrichment can change the lives of seniors

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat...by Oliver Sacks

Awakening your mind to strange conditions; bookclub with heather suttie Do you have a book review or would you like me to review a book you've enjoyed? Please get in touch at DRBOOKCLUB@dailyrecord.co.uk or tweet @blondi_SOS

These read a bit like Oliver Sacks, with their unusual symptoms, such as sudden, unexplained amnesia.

The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars: A Neuropsychologist's Odyssey Through Consciousness

You might guess that Helen Thomson, a journalist who studies neuroscience, would be a fan of the late Oliver Sacks. And you'd be right.

UNTHINKABLE

Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) was a British naturalist, neurologist, naturalist, and historian of science.

The River of Consciousness

Rossato-Bennett visits family members affected by Alzheimer's who have witnessed the miraculous effects of personalised music on their loved ones and offers illuminating interviews with experts, including renowned neurologist and best-selling author Oliver Sacks (Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain) and musician Bobby McFerrin (Don't Worry, Be Happy).

DFI presents four American films at MIA

Neurologist Oliver Sacks is the author of many books for general readers on what neurological disorders can teach us about the brain and the mind: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, An Anthropologist on Mars, The MindAEs Eye, Awakenings, and his memoir On the Move.

The River of Consciousness

Among the current listings: quirky fashion designer Betsey Johnson, Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway, indie darling Parker Posey, 80's star Molly Ringwald, producer and rapper Sean Combs, the late neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, and actress Demi Moore.

The fame game: check out celebrity homes for sale in New York City