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The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by [Oliver Sacks]

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Oliver Sacks

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales Kindle Edition

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In his most extraordinary book, the bestselling author of Awakenings and "poet laureate of medicine” (The New York Times) recounts the case histories of patients inhabiting the compelling world of neurological disorders, from those who are no longer able to recognize common objects to those who gain extraordinary new skills.

Featuring a new preface, Oliver Sacks’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with perceptual and intellectual disorders: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; whose limbs seem alien to them; who lack some skills yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. In Dr. Sacks’s splendid and sympathetic telling, his patients are deeply human and his tales are studies of struggles against incredible adversity. A great healer, Sacks never loses sight of medicine’s ultimate responsibility: “the suffering, afflicted, fighting human subject.”

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September 14, 2021
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From the Publisher

Review

"Insightful, compassionate, moving . . . the lucidity and power of a gifted writer."
—The New York Times Book Review

"A provocative introduction to the human mind."
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Dr. Sacks's best book. . . . One sees a wise, compassionate and very literate mind at work in these 20 stories, nearly all remarkable, and many the kind that restore one's faith in humanity."
—Chicago Sun-Times

"Dr. Sacks's most absorbing book. . . . His tales are so compelling that many of them serve as eerie metaphors not only for the condition of modern medicine but of modern man"
—New York Magazine

“This book is for everybody who has felt from time to time that certain twinge of self-identity and sensed how easily, at any moment, one might lose it.”
—The Times

“Oliver Sacks has become the world's best-known neurologist. His case studies of broken minds offer brilliant insight into the mysteries of consciousness.”
—TheGuardian

“Populated by a cast as strange as that of the most fantastic fiction . . . Dr Sacks shows the awesome powers of our mind and just how delicately balanced they have to be.”
—Sunday Times

“Sacks explores neurological disorders with a novelist's skill and an appreciation of his patients as human beings.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Sensitive yet lively. . . . This book ranks with the very best of its genre. It will inform and entertain anyone, especially those who find medicine an intriguing and mysterious art.”
—Kirkus Reviews --This text refers to the paperback edition.

About the Author

Oliver Sacks was born in 1933 in London and was educated at Queen's College, Oxford. He completed his medical training at San Francisco's Mount Zion Hospital and at UCLA before moving to New York. Familiar to the readers of TheNew Yorker and The New York Review of Books, Dr. Sacks spent more than fifty years working as a neurologist and wrote many books, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Musicophilia, and Hallucinations, about the strange neurological predicaments and conditions of his patients. The New York Times referred to him as "the poet laureate of medicine," and over the years he received many awards, including honors from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal College of Physicians. His memoir On the Move was published shortly before his death in August 2015. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

A neurologist who claims to be equally interested in disease and people, Sacks (Awakenings, etc.) explores neurological disorders with a novelist's skill and an appreciation of his patients as human beings. These cases, some of which have appeared in literary or medical publications, illustrate the tragedy of losing neurological facultiesmemory, powers of visualization, word-recognitionor the also-devastating fate of those suffering an excess of neurological functions causing such hyper states as chorea, tics, Tourette's syndrome and Parkinsonism. Still other patients experience organically based hallucinations, transports, visions, etc., usually deemed to be psychic in nature. The science of neurology, Sacks charges, stresses the abstract and computerized at the expense of judgment and emotional depthsin his view, the most important human qualities. Therapy for brain-damaged patients (by medication, accommodation, music or art) should, he asserts, be designed to help restore the essentially personal quality of the individual. First serial to New York Review of Books, The Sciences and Science; Reader's Subscription alternate. January
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

From Library Journal

Neurologist Sacks, author of Awakenings and A Leg To Stand On , presents a series of clinical tales drawn from fascinating and unusual cases encountered during his years of medical practice. Dividing his text into four parts"losses" of neurological function; "excesses"; "transports" involving reminiscence, altered perception, and imagination; and "the simple," or the world of the retardedSacks introduces the reader to real people who suffer from a variety of neurological syndromes which include symptoms such as amnesia, uncontrolled movements, and musical hallucinations. Sacks recounts their stories in a riveting, compassionate, and thoughtful manner. Written on a somewhat scholarly level, the book is highly recommended for larger collections. Debra Berlanstein, Towson State Univ. Lib., Baltimore
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Review

"New York Magazine" Dr. Sacks's most absorbing book.... His tales are so compelling that many of them serve as eerie metaphors not only for the condition of modern medicine but of modern man. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B091MDF73Z
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage (September 14, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 14, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 10480 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
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Print length ‏ : ‎ 291 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #52,368 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #26 in Biology (Kindle Store)
- #29 in Neuroscience (Kindle Store)
- #37 in Biographies of Medical Professionals (Kindle Store)

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Oliver Sacks

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Dr Sacks spent almost fifty years working as a neurologist and wrote many books, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Musicophilia, and Hallucinations, about the strange neurological predicaments and conditions of his patients. The New York Times referred to him as 'the poet laureate of medicine', and over the years he received many awards, including honours from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Royal College of Physicians. In 2008, he was appointed Commander of the British Empire. His memoir, On the Move, was published shortly before his death in August 2015.

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Matt Mayevsky

Oliver Sacks as Edgar Allan Poe

Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2016

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This is my first book by Oliver Sacks. I must admit I was expecting more science, less "novel." Dr. Sacks writes in a literary style and loves multiple complex sentences that make the argument indeed richer, but also intricate. So, if you want a simple reading, you'll be a little surprised.

The book consists of four parts:
1) Losses
2) Execess
3) Transports
4) The World of the Simple

Each section relates to a different set of neurological problems resulting in a mental disorder.

1) In the "Losses" the author describes nine cases.
"Neurology's favourite word is 'deficit', denoting an impariment or incapacity of neurological function: loss of vision, loss dexterity, loss of identity and myriad other lacks and losses of specific functions (or faculties)."

2) In the "Execess" find five "stories".
"What then of the opposite - an execess or superabundance of functions?"
and next
"... we consider their excesses - not amnesia, but hypermnesia; not agnosia, but hypergnosia; and all the other 'hypers' we can imagine."

3) The chapter "Transports" describes six cases.
"...'transports' - often of poignant intensity, and shot through with personal feeling and meaning - tend to be seen, like drimes, as psychical: as a manifestation, perhaps, of unconscious or preconcious activity..."
and next
"...to be seen as psychoses, or to be brodcast as religious revelations, rather than brought to physicians."

4) And at the end of "The World of the Simple" (four "stories"). Dr. Sacks describes cases of people whose neurological disorders outfitted with extraordinary abilities, such as "seeing the numbers," eidetic memory, an excellent sense of smell, etc. (Ie. brilliant savants).

In his book, Dr. Sacks often refers to the study of well-known Russian psychologist A. R. Luria.

Dr. Sacks style of reasoning, not everyone will like it. Besides, there are many similar books, though written from a different perspective than neurological such as "Tales from the Couch: A Clinical Psychologist's True Stories of Psychopathology" by Dr. Bob Wendorf.

97 people found this helpful

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Child of the Pacific

Lessons For A Managed Care-Ramvaged Medicine

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2019

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Dr. Sacks does not need me to review him. He has been lauded and given accolades by much higher and widely-regarded authorities than myself. It would, however, do the medical profession a world of good to re-read Dr. Sacks, who was permitted to practice a medicine long past, and recognize what miracles can occur for patients and, indeed, for our doctors' quality of life when they are allowed to practice a medicine unfettered by the artificial, finance-driven managed care nightmare we have been subjected to. Dr. Sacks should be required reading for the entire medical profession and it's enslaving masters: hospital administration, health systems CEOs and employees. Our doctors are suffering because they aren't given the immeasurably valuable resource of time. They are working in a framework that has all but extinguished our doctors' ability to explore the toll illness takes on the patient's life and soul. The patients themselves recognize this all too keenly and are vilifying and abandoning and medicine for any snake oil salesman who will tenderly touch and listen to them. We must turn this disaster back.

27 people found this helpful

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Cristal Ortega

Book Review

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2017

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Oliver Sacks was a neurologist who wrote several different best-sellers that delved into further understanding the capacity of the human brain. He wrote his best-sellers using his collection of cases of patients who suffered from different neurological conditions. Among one of his best sellers is the book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales where he compiled several of his most interesting clinical tales using his former patients that suffered from a variety of different neurological disorders. In his book, he divided the cases into four different categories; loses, excesses, transports, and simple. This review will further analyze the title of the book, the different neurological disorders that are divided into the four different categories which will then be reviewed categorially by analyzing the ways in which neuroscience is present in the book.

For starters, the book title The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales is extremely fitting because it conveys the essence of the book. The title allows for some curiosity on the reader’s behalf which entices them to read the book because they want to know what kind of neurological disorder prevents the patient from recognizing faces and mistaking their wife for a hat. Dr. Sacks quickly introduces us to the patient responsible of the title of the book during the first chapter. I think it’s fitting that Dr. Sacks chose Dr. P as his first patient as his book title because it sets the precedent to the rest patients in his collection of clinical tails. By introducing the person responsible for the title of the book in the first chapter, it doesn’t leave the reader wondering which patient mistook their wife for a hat. On the contrary, it helps set the tone for the rest of the clinical tales which shows stories about neurological disorders just as wild as Dr. P’s case.

For the most part, the book was very well written and easy to understand. Since the book was divided into four different categories, it allowed for the book to be extremely organized because the cases either fell into a losses, excesses, transports and simple categories. The first part of the book is losses, where Dr. Sacks describes neurological disorders that have a certain kind of loss in their neurological functions. An example of a loss would be visual agnosia which in the case of Dr. P, it took away his ability to distinguish faces. Although Dr. P was unable to distinguish faces, he still found a way to continue his everyday life with minimal interruption by using the help of music to guide him in his life.
Neuroscience is presented in Dr. P’s case excessively. Because Dr. P’s has the inability to recognize faces, it means that his thinking is more abstract and mechanical. Dr. P’s thinking is more computer like because his brain is classifying and categorizing the faces he sees. Dr. P’s case is a prime example of why it’s important for not only the brain to classify and categorize things, but also having continual judging and feeling. If any of these elements are missing in the human brain, people become computer like, just as Dr. P. When people suffer from visual agnosia, just as Dr. P, their life becomes entirely abstract and computational. Dr. Sacks claim regarding that such disorder makes patients computer-like is accurate and valid because after making that claim, he follows up with the reader by showing another brief case of visual agnosia which allows the readers to compare the two patients and understand how complex visual agnosia is.

The second part of the book is excesses, where Dr. Sacks describes neurological disorders that have a superabundance’s of functions. An example of an excess would be Tourette’s syndrome which is when a person has an excess amount of nervous system energy which transpires into production of strange motions and notions such as tics, compulsions, and etc. In the case of Witty Ticcy Ray his Tourette’s was extremely debilitating because his tics were uncontrollable and unorthodox. It wasn’t until Witty Ticcy Ray got started on a new medication called Haldol which allowed him to live his life with minimal interruption with his illness by finding the proper dosage that worked for him.
Neuroscience is presented in the case of Witty Ticcy Ray in several different ways. For starters, Dr. Sacks starts out by explaining that Tourette’s patients have disturbances in the instinctual bases of behavior in the brain. Such areas affected are the thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system and amygdala which is where all the determinants for personality are located at. The presentation of neuroscience in the case of Witty Ticcy Ray makes sense with my understanding of neuroscience because it helped me understand how Tourette’s Syndrome works due to the fact that the areas affected are the areas that control personality which in turn with Tourette’s is expressed through different kind of ticks.
Additionally, the treatment for Witty Ticcy Ray’s Tourette’s was a medication called Haldol. Haldol helped control his ticks and helped him assimilate into everyday life. Haldol works by helping to restore the balance of certain natural substances in the brain such as neurotransmitters. Dr. Sacks claims of Haldol working on Witty Ticcy Ray’s Tourette’s demonstrates a further understanding of neuroscience. The only thing I would have liked to see from Dr. Sacks argument about Haldol, would have been to have been provided with an elaborate explanation in the ways in which Haldol helps the neurotransmitters restore chemical balances in the brain.

The third part of the book is transports, where Dr. Sacks describes neurological disorders of patients that suffer from altered perceptions which allows them to transport back to a moment in their past by reminiscing without notice. An example of transports which in the case of Mrs. O’C was caused by temporal lobe seizures due to a stroke the right temporal lobe. In the case of Mrs. O’C she was hearing Irish music in her head which filled her with personal feelings of her past which allowed her in a way to transport back to her childhood. Mrs. O’C Irish music in her head was resolved on its own with time but it shows how some neurological conditions are able to transport patients back to forgotten memories.
Neuroscience is presented in the case of Mrs. O’C in various ways. For starters, it shows the impact of a stroke in the brain and because of the location of the stroke occurred in the right temporal lobe, it allowed for temporal lobe seizures to occur which was the reasoning behind hearing music and transporting to earlier memories. The presentation makes sense with my current understanding of neuroscience because from what I’ve learned in class it was that the temporal lobe is involved in primary auditory perception, such as hearing, and holds the primary auditory cortex. When Mrs. O’C had right temporal lobe seizures, it makes sense that she would hear music in her head. Dr. Sacks also followed up his claim by providing evidence of a test he ran on Mrs. O’C where he electrically stimulated the right temporal lobe and caused her to hear music. Which further proved his claim regarding the temporal lobe seizures and their impact on the human brain.

The fourth part of the book is simple, where Dr. Sacks introduces several different patients who are considered “simple” because they suffer from different forms of mental retardation. Although Dr. Sacks labels these patients as “simple” they completely outgrow that label because Dr. Sacks brings out their personal strengths in each of their case and shows how these patients are able to thrive despite their neurological limitations.
Neuroscience is presented in this final section by Dr. Sacks providing different case studies of patients who all live a simple and innocent lives due to their mental retardation. Although, their world might be simple; that doesn’t mean that their brain doesn’t work. Dr. Sacks did well presenting different patients which helped me understand the different ways that neuroscience works in the world of simple. The last case study of the section of simple shows the story of an Autistic boy named Jose who is referred to as “The Autistic Artist.” Although he was mentally retarded and unable to speak, that did not make him an imbecile because when asked to draw pictures, he drew those same pictures differently and amazingly. The argument that Dr. Sacks makes regarding the different skills of many different individuals with mental retardation and what they can achieve despite their limitations is backed up correctly and well explained by providing different examples of all the different patients.

Altogether, Dr. Sacks collection of various different clinical tales makes for an interesting yet informative neuroscience read. Dr. Sacks effectively examines the personal side of neurosis by making his book an easy read by incorporating empathy with clinical jargon. Dividing the book into four separate parts allows for the reader to get an understanding of how different neurological diseases come in all shapes and sizes. Dr. Sacks effectively explains the concepts of losses in neuroscience, the concept of excesses, the concept of transports and the world of simple. All the different patients that were included in the different sections made it easier to understand the different neurological diseases being explained because it allowed the reader to see different examples of how neuroscience plays a giant role in our everyday lives.

40 people found this helpful

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Bluecashmere.

"An Arabian Nights Entertainment."

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2019

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I have been trying to understand why I find this much-celebrated book vaguely unsatisfying. In view of its extraordinary subject matter, it should be a riveting read, yet I find it rather dull. Recently, I read Janov’s “Why You Get Sick and How You Get Well”, a totally compelling and invigorating read, demanding at times but so lucidly written. I wonder what group of people, Sacks had in mind as potential readers. It seems to me to rather titivate the lay reader, while blinding him/her with science at the same time.

What we have is a seemingly random series of accounts of patients, who had failed with other medical professionals, but who succeeded insofar as it was possible with him. Beneath the surface there is the irritant of Sacks’ egocentricity.
We are introduced to a wide range of neurological conditions: tilting bodies, aphasia, Parkinson’s, Tourette’s syndrome, autism and others. Some are really extraordinary, such as the identical twins suffering from autism, who have an astonishing ability to see numbers, often of numerous digits, provided that they are prime numbers. There seems to be little doubt that Sacks drew out special abilities in many different fields that others had overlooked owing to pigeon-holing the subjects, often in the light of their tested IQs. There is plenty of scientific reference to underpin Sacks’ conclusions. What we do not have is the broader contexts in which these people lived: their social connections, often whether or not they are permanently in institutions or whether they are able to function to a degree within society at large.

I don’t think that I have really answered my own question, but hope that I might have given a few pointers as to why I am unable to enthuse more warmly about this book.

46 people found this helpful

Philip M

Compared to Sacks' other books this is tedious and unsatisfying.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 19, 2019

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As with some other reviewers, I found this book quite unsatisfying. Oliver Sacks was enormously experienced and widely respected – yet this book just didn’t hold my attention. I found it somewhat tedious – there was just no enthusiasm injected into this interesting subject.

Indeed it reads like a list of his consultations, in no particular order or connection. Symptoms and conditions are described but without any real compassion or insight, but almost with a sense of scientific analysis. I was left with a feeling that these poor individuals appeared to paraded as oddities, somewhat of a circus sideshow.

Eventually I gave up, and it took me few months to venture into another of Sacks’ books “Musicophilia” – which was extremely compelling, fascinating and highly compassionate. This is a book I would highly recommend.

12 people found this helpful

Miss Nesbitt

Devastating...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 27, 2019

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Incredible man, incredible book. It was recommended to me to read during my Psychology degree. Did I bother reading it then? Nope. But I have finally got around to it. Much of it is already known from my studies but still a very interesting read. A very sad state of affairs for some patients mentioned in the book but very interesting to see just what the brain will put up with, how it translates after a trauma and how people adapt. Worth a read, each chapter is a short story about a new person.

11 people found this helpful

Laura Jayne

A favourite neuropsychology book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 2, 2018

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This book tells of many neurological disorders by telling the stories of patients encountered by Oliver Sacks. It is split into four parts - losses, excesses, transports, the world of simple - each which goes through relevant “disorders” to that title. A very interesting read as a psychology graduate/student. Would recommend to anyone with an interest in neuropsychology!

11 people found this helpful

Joe Lonsdale

Frankly a little boring.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2019

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The medical cases described are quite interesting but the surrounding analysis, at least for a layman like myself, seems rather dull and repetitive. Again, the patients are interesting but the author doesn't really delve very deeply into the background context and emotional details that a layman might find interesting. Additionally, as very little treatment is discussed (or maybe possible) and none of the cases are cured or even improved, the book ends up reading like an annotated list of curiosities that become less interesting, by familiarity, as the list goes on. Probably more interesting to budding neurologists than casual readers. I enjoyed some of the authors later books far more.

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