The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Rating

5/10 I quit at page 90 (out of 246) - so I think I gave it a fair shot, but as much as one or two descriptions of the consequences of some crazy brain defect are interesting, reading one case after another gets boring and wholly uninteresting real quick.

It’s written quite well. Each case is described in detail and the attention is given on the real human side of things - the emotions they feel (or don’t feel), the changes in perception of themselves and the world around them, and on how they deal with their misfortunes. Throughout each of the cases, Sacks also brings up the philosophical questions of what this particular case means for our understanding of consciousness and the brain’s ability to construct our personal reality.

But there is no real thread - if we don’t count the fact that these are all patients with some neurological defect. Each case kind of stands on its own, with its own philosophical questions and musings. Hence, there is very little to takeaway and very little story development to keep you engaged.

For that reason I give it a measly 5/10 - it’s not completely unworthy of reading, it’s just made for picking up, reading one story, and setting it back down until you get another urge to read about some nut case and what their neurological defect tells us about the nature of consciousness.

Synopsis

A collection of anecdotes and case descriptions of the patients that Oliver Sacks treated throughout his career. Each case is intertwined with some philosophical questions about the nature of life’s meaning and the neurology of our brains.

Notes

• in the section on phantom limbs he said that sometimes a phantom limb is necessary for the ability of the amputee to use their prosthesis: this is something I never thought of, I always assumed that it’s a mental battle to loose the phantom pain, but apparently that can in some case be to the patients detriment